Newly refurbished Port Vila market to open in June

The newly refurbished Port Vila market is expected to open in June.

The venue is in its final stages of completion and the Municipal Council has given approval for the contractor, Franconieri & Son Construction to begin demolishing existing toilets.

This is to make way for the construction of a new café area, completion of the seafront covered seating area and a solid waste handling area.

Over the last four weeks the Central Market has been vacated due to the State of Emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

PVMC and the contractor have used this opportunity to clean and paint the existing structure, and install the vegetable washing sinks and associated drainage in the main hall of the market house.

The contractor has also improved drainage at the front entry to the market, which was funded by PVMC. The PVMC is also funding the strengthening of the roof above the restaurant area and the replacement of the roof above the existing toilet area.

New offices, restaurant area and wastewater treatment plant are scheduled for completion at the end of May. The new toilet facilities are scheduled for completion and commencement of operation in the first week of June, during which time the toilets at the seafront playground (behind ANZ Bank) will be available to market vendors and visitors.

The entire project is expected to be completed by the end of June.

The Port Vila Central Market upgrade is a project under the Australian Government-funded Tropical Cyclone Pam Recovery Programme.

The project has received some additional funding from UN Women Fiji Multi-Country office through its Markets for Change (M4C) Project. UN Women M4C project is principally funded by the Australian Government with recent support from the Government of Canada. UNDP is an implementing partner of M4C Project.