Nabua vendors in Suva have been told to move to make way for properly constructed facilities.

Their colleagues on Mead Road near Princes Road will be the next to move for the same reason.

On Friday, a Suva City Council (SCC) enforcement team told vendors selling along Rajendra Supermarket and Shop N Save Supermarket in Nabua to pack and move by 4 pm today.

The chair of the special administrators’ team for Suva and Lami, Isikeli Tikoduadua, said the vendors should move for the SCC team to renovate the place.

“We care for the health of the market vendors and we want them to operate from a clean and healthy place,” he said.

He said the Nabua vendors were not compliant with the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) requirements. He said the new change would be good for the vendors.

Mr Tikoduadua has urged the vendors to be patient with the council because they would benefit from the changes the SCC would do.

He said a concern for the SCC was that vendors did not have a toilet and this would be constructed for them.

Where will we move to? Exclaims Nabua group

The market vendors at Nabua. Photo: Ronald Kumar

Nabua vendors in Suva were surprised by the short notice to move and make way for the construction of proper stalls.

The Suva City Council (SCC) enforcement team met the vendors selling along Rajendra Supermarket and Shop N Save Supermarket in Nabua and told them to pack and move.

The vendors’ spokesperson, Usaia Korodrau, said they had been told to clear the area by 4 pm today.

He said while they would respect the decision he was worried about where they would move to.

“We’ve been told to vacate the place by 4 pm tomorrow (today) and if not they’re going to take all our products,” he said.

He said they were told that the team would come to clear the area, fumigate and clean it.

After that, they would allocate spaces for vendors to use and build shelters to protect them from the rain and hot sun.

He said their concern was they were not given any other space to operate from.

Vendors affected

Mr Korodrau said 30 vendors were affected and this was their only means of livelihood.

They sell vegetables, fruits and root crops.

Fifty-four-year-old Alena Baleilevuka said she had been a market vendor for 19 years.

She said she was really shocked with the visit of the SCC enforcement team and the message they brought to them.

“They did not bring a letter but they verbally told us to move by tomorrow (today),” she said.

Mrs Baleilevuka said while they had to leave tomorrow (today) at 4 pm, the SCC should have allocated them space to operate from.

She said they should have been given more time to find a temporary place, especially when most of them survived from the money they got from the market.

The Fiji Sun also visited the vendors operating outside MH Super Fresh at Mead Road.

One of the vendors, Ulamila Bera, said they had not been told to move.

However, she was happy that SCC was looking at improving the places they operated from.

She said they also did not have a toilet.

Edited by Naisa Koroi

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