LABASA MARKET VENDORS.

Labasa will soon boast the biggest seafood market in the country.

Minister for Local Government Premila Kumar says they plan to build a big seafood centre to replace the current temporary fish market.

Kumar says Labasa supplies 80 percent of seafood to Viti Levu and they want to capitalise on this.

A three-acre land at Naiyaca Subdivision has been acquired to build what Kumar says will be the biggest seafood centre in the country.

“It’s very well planned, well thought out with consultations with the fish vendors and so forth. With that, we also intend to have seafood restaurants that we will rent out as well as SME markets – small businesses that can operate from there.”

However, the location of this new development has fish vendors all worried about their sales.

Vendor Jitendra Kumar says they might lose their customers.

“We will find difficulties to sell the fish. The business will lose, go down.”

Minister Premila Kumar stressed during a meeting with vendors this week that the existing fish market is temporary and is now congested.

The new seafood centre, she adds, will also be able to cater for an increased number of vendors.

The new centre will be located across the Labasa River – opposite the existing fish market.