All stakeholders consulted for open markets reform – including for Valletta’s market, Cardona says

Albert Galea All stakeholders have been consulted as the Open Markets Reform process comes closer to fruition, including those centred around the controversial Valletta market, Economy Minister Chris Cardona told The Malta Independent on Sunday.

Cardona said that the consultation period is now over, and that all stakeholders, including local councils in localities which host a flea market, had been consulted as part of the process.

The Economy Minister had been asked specifically about the Valletta market, the revamp of which has been a source of controversy for the past years, but Cardona said that the plan for this particular market needs to be seen in the context of the full open market reform.

“The Valletta market was a saga where we successfully moved the hawkers from Merchant’s Street to Ordinance Street,” Cardona said before noting that the Open Markets Reform process has almost been concluded and will soon be tabled in Parliament.

The Open Markets Reform had been unveiled in November last year, with a consultation period running for the subsequent months. The reform at that stage saw the inclusion of a new Local Markets which will take care of the markets, and would be responsible for making sure all hawkers are in compliance with all regulations.

Other proposals included certain amendments to the Trading Licenses Act in terms of matters related to the issue of permits, obligations of hawkers, the extent of involvement required from the local councils, and areas marked out for hawkers.

“The important thing is that in the reform there will be all the elements that have come out from the discussion from those who operate within the market, residents living near where it sets up, and the consumers who regularly buy there,” Cardona said of the reform process.

Asked whether there was a possibility that the number of stalls would be reduced, Cardona noted that this is a process which will happen almost automatically due to a more liberalised system on the transfer of hawking licenses.

Hawker’s Association President Raymond Tabone, when contacted by this newsroom, said he was encouraged that the proposed reform will be a positive step forward, and confirmed that a consultation process had indeed taken place.

Before the Open Market Reform White Paper had been revealed, Chris Cardona had said in Parliament that the Valletta stall design was being reconsidered, but no news in this regard has been heard as of yet.

The initial design of the stalls in Valletta in 2015 had been fiercely criticised and was subsequently scrapped after it elicited significant criticism from the public, including from then Valletta Mayor Alexei Dingli and V18 Chairman Jason Micallef, with an agreement for a new design that was awarded to architects Ray Said and Rupert Pace having failed to materialise.