THE Honiara City Council recently inspected a line of buildings at Point Cruz with the view of pulling them down and replacing them with new facilities.
The exercise was part of the council’s efforts to give Honiara a new-look image.
This line of buildings runs from the Point Cruz Hot Break Kitchen right next to the NPF head office.
Some of these buildings were believed to be there for the last 40 years.
A city council team of inspectors, engineers, and environmental health personnel inspected the buildings recently.
Their report will form the basis of action the council will take.
This is a great initiative and the council is encouraged to keep pursuing it.
There’s also another issue the council needs to turn its attention to.
It is the Central Market in the heart of the city.
The market building was a magnificent gift from the government and people of Japan.
It has served Honiara and the country well for the last 20 years.
However, the facility is now getting smaller and overcrowded due to the rapid rise in Honiara’s population.
It is therefore timely for the council to start looking at relocating the market to a bigger space or building another market of similar size somewhere within the city boundary.
This is important to reduce the over-crowdedness daily experienced at the premises.
Today, a lot of vendors sell their produces on the floor or outside the market building.
Furthermore, health conditions at the market are getting worse. Toilet facilities there are not working well and the water supply to the market is utterly poor.
These are all due largely to the high number of users – both buyers and sellers – that frequent the facility daily.
The situation warrants the council’s close attention.
Unless steps are taken now to address the situation, the Central Market may not be a good and safe place to trade in the next year or two.
Honiara is a fast growing city.
The council must keep up with the pace and plan ahead if it is to properly and adequately manage the affairs of the city.
