Registered hawkers to be guaranteed place at market

Hawkers in village markets should be registered in the localities where they operate by the end of September, Edwin Vassallo, Parliamentary Secretary in the Competition and Competitiveness Ministry, said yesterday.

Announcing the completion of a registration exercise for market hawkers operating in Naxxar, Qormi, Zejtun, Birkirkara, Birzebbuga, Attard, Paola and Sliema, Mr Vassallo said a registration exercise for hawkers in the markets of Rabat, Vittoriosa and Cospicua would start in the coming days. A registration exercise in the markets of Mosta, Zebbug, Siggiewi and Luqa should follow.

Explaining the importance of the registration exercise, Mr Vassallo said that according to an old, unwritten rule, hawkers in possession of a licence from the Trade Licence Unit could set up a stall wherever they wanted. "This traditionally led to market hawkers having to set up their stalls as early as 4 a.m. to make sure their place would not be taken by an outsider."

From now on, market hawkers will not be allowed to set up their stalls in markets without the necessary authorisation from the respective local councils, Mr Vassallo said.

He said the idea of reorganising village markets in a way that hawkers had their own fixed place would bring about an orderly environment and eliminate the "law of the jungle".

"Thanks to the registration exercise, each hawker will have his own place guaranteed in the market while those on the waiting list will be given a place either if someone drops out or if the local council decided to extend the market," Mr Vassallo said, explaining that places were awarded according to who applied first with the local councils and not according to how long they had been operating in a particular village.

"Hawkers who have not yet notified the local councils where they operate should do so as soon as possible, otherwise they risk being removed from the list," Mr Vassallo warned.

Mr Vassallo said there were about 500 hawkers in Malta and insisted these were an essential part of the economy. The locality with the largest number of hawkers is Vittoriosa, a market that falls under the local councils of Cospicua and Vittoriosa, where there are 285 hawkers.

Other populated localities such as Qormi (205 hawkers) and Birkirkara (184 hawkers on Wednesdays and 174 on Fridays) followed.

Markets with a small number of hawkers were Naxxar (20 hawkers) and Sliema (five hawkers on Wednesdays and seven hawkers on Fridays).