Concerns on market stall fees waiver
A THOROUGH assessment should be conducted before any waiver of market stall fees is introduced in the local municipal markets.
This was the view of the Lautoka Market Vendors Association president Filomena O’Neill.
She made this comment while sharing the pleas of some women vendors at Lautoka market who were asking for a review and reduction of market stall fees.
“In Lautoka alone, we have about 500 plus vendors and some have quite a number of stalls while we have some who only can afford one to two stalls and are suffering now because they are not earning much from what they are selling,” Ms O’Neill said.
“This is why it is important for municipal councils to conduct a thorough survey in the market before any stall fee waiver or reduction is introduced.
“Some market vendors are really suffering and this is why they are asking and pleading for their stall fees to be reduced so they can at least afford to pay them.”
Ms O’Neill said assessing individual vendors in the market was the only way to gauge those who genuinely needed assistance and those who would not in terms of paying market stall fees.
She added it was vital to carry out market assessment as there were vendors who earned so much revenue from the market while there were some who could only earn as much to support their families.
Ms O’Neill added it would be a unfair to waive the fees of bigger vendors who earned so much from the market compared with the small ones who struggled to earn at least something for their family’s needs.