Mzuzu delays satellite markets construction

Mzuzu vendors have bemoaned failure by the Mzuzu City Council (MCC) to construct satellite markets according to its strategic plan.
In its 2014/19 strategic plan, the council promises to construct one market each year.
Acting chief executive officer for the council, Victor Masina, said MCC will embark on the project in the next financial year. Masina said the council has no funds to construct a market this year.
“The main issue has been funding, as we have changed from manual to computerised billing which requires us to bill for one whole year, unlike the former which we used to bill quarterly,” he said.
Masina said the change posed problems to the council as it did not foresee the full year billing.
“2015 is the pilot year and this has disturbed the market construction as we want to establish the trends in our revenue collection; of course, it will cost us more than what we initially budgeted for,” he said.
Masina says the council has budgeted K30 million per market and is expected to construct five markets in various townships in five years.

According to Masina, when the markets are completed, its revenue will boost as it will curb street vending which is caused by lack of markets in the city.
In an interview on Tuesday, chairperson of Northern Region Vendors Association Stanley Simbeye said vendors from the city have for countless times asked MCC to construct satellite markets in townships to ease the congestion at the central market.
“They always tell us that they do not have funds to construct satellite markets; however, the central market is congested which is negatively affecting business,” said Simbeye, who yesterday was in a meeting with the council officials discussing the same.
Simbeye attributed this to poor administration at the council.
“What they do not know is that they lose a lot of revenue as some traders who are now plying their trade on the streets do not pay market fees, which would have contributed to the city’s development,” he said.
Simbeye further said he believed the council is delaying the project as it has no land to construct the markets as “it was sleeping in the past, they did not prepare for the future.”