Nine roadside vendors of Navua today received standardized roadside stalls as a form of assistance from the government.

Handing out the stalls, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says roadside vendors are important to the Fijian life.

Bainimarama says they’re selling goods that are feeding and sustaining Fijian communities and giving tourists to our countries a sample of Fijian-grown produce.

He adds this pilot project takes the marketing of the small businesses to an entirely new level; a new look, a new level of reliability and a new opportunity for all vendors to capitalize on and increase their profits as vendors.

“Running a roadside stall is not easy work. It’s not easy bringing goods to your stalls and it’s certainly not easy setting up those stalls, maintaining them and running a profitable business. It takes very long hours of work, it takes endless persistence and it takes resilience, because in bad conditions or during severe weather, the going can get very tough indeed.”

Bainimarama adds the government is also expanding the networks of street lighting throughout the country to give vendors the chance to continue selling well into the night along safe, well-lit highways across the nation.

The stalls are made from high quality materials and they are certified by Government engineers to be able to withstand up to category-5 cyclone conditions.

The Prime Minister says they’re handing over 20 semi-permanent stalls and 10 portable vendor stalls during the pilot phase of this programme.