Lusaka City Council (LCC) has warned that it will this week swing into action and remove vendors trading in front of the new Soweto market.
LCC Public Relations Officer, Habeenzu Mulunda disclosed this in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka today.
Mr. Mulunda said the New Soweto market will be officially opened in a few weeks and will not look appropriate to open it with vendors trading in front of it.
He urged marketers who have been allocated stores in the new market to move in and start trading within the market.
When asked about the traders that were not allocated stands at the new market, Mr. Mulunda explained that there is a lot of market space in other markets especially markets found in various townships.
He noted that too often people tend to leave the markets and start trading outside giving the impression that there is no trading space and yet there is adequate space.
The New Soweto market was constructed at a cost of about K36 billion.
And Mr. Mulunda also said that the Kafue round about Foot Bridge is nearing completion.
He added that the council is soliciting for an extra K3 billion to put up barriers that will stop pedestrians from crossing the road below the bridge.
The foot bridge is being constructed at a cost of K6 billion.
ZANIS
Ba LCC thats why you are paid on the 56 instead of 30th. you gat no brains to small problems you handle.
‘Swinging into action’ to remove vendors from point ‘A’ to point ‘Nowhere’ by the LCC has now become a very boring annual ceremony.
36billion on a market! Do we have a plan to recover the cost of building this market and building other markets elsewhere? We need value for money in zambia otherwise one day soon we’ll put up a market for 170billion
For whom are these markets built? Coz every time new markets are built, it seems the original traders who in most cases are poor pipo are not usually given any trading space & just end up being victims.
the main stay of the zambian economy is petty trading. the solution for street vending in the whole country can only be found in increasing production which should creat jobs and absorb the bulk of those who currently have no other option but to survive on peddling. this can then be supported by proper enforcement of anti vending regulations if there are any. that way there will be some justice in clearing the vendors
Before they start chasing street vendors indiscriminately, have they checked to see if all of them have a space allocated in the new market areas? We all saw how they bungled the city market allocation with MMD party cadres getting priority over everyone else who had their names on the list and were waiting for their spots. The whole process is just ridiculous and is an exercise in futility until they remove the political BS from it.
Build proper market stands and stalls for them. Surely these people want to work – they want to earn a living. Let them rent these stalls and keep the place clean – and everyone is happy. Money earned can be used to build more markets across Lusaka and other provinces will copy the trend and do the same.
Don’t just kick them out – HELP THEM
Visit Zambia, you will be surprised. It looks poor, but K36billion is easily earned in Zambia – Zambia is rich, but we have no managers to manage our resources properly, the gap between rich and poor is still very visible because we are Zambians. The rich don’t care about the poor.
K36billion figure is nothing to rich Zambians.
Local Zambians are building houses worth millions of US dollars. How, I couldn’t tell you. The