Chongwe Municipal Council has started relocating traders operating illegally within the Central Business District (CBD) to designated temporary trading areas at the Showgrounds.
Chongwe Municipal Council Assistant Public Relations Manager Cecilia Musonda says some vendors had been trading on Chongwe Primary School grounds and along the road frontage of Mount Meru Filling Station along Great East road.
Ms Musonda said the relocation exercise follows concerns over the use of undesignated trading spaces, which have contributed to disorder, obstruction of public spaces and challenges in maintaining sanitation and hygiene.
She said the practice also interferes with the proper use of public infrastructure and poses potential risks to public health and safety.
Ms Musonda explained that the Showgrounds had been identified as a suitable temporary trading area because it has functional ablution facilities and a water supply to support trading activities and promote hygiene.
She added that the council had rehabilitated the shelter at Chongwe Old Market to provide temporary trading space for some of the affected vendors.
“The intervention would help ease pressure on the available trading spaces as the Council mobilises resources towards completing the new Chongwe Modern Market, which is being constructed by the Zambia National Service (ZNS),” she said.
The Assistant Public Relations Manager
said the modern market project had made considerable progress and remained a key priority for the Council.
“Upon completion, the facility is expected to accommodate a significantly larger number of traders in a more organised and suitable trading environment,” Ms Musonda said.
She emphasised that the relocation exercise was intended to balance traders’ economic activities with the need to enforce compliance with applicable laws and regulations, maintain order and ensure that public spaces were used for their intended purposes.
Ms Musonda appealed to all traders to cooperate with the relocation exercise and conduct their businesses only in designated trading areas.
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