Member of Parliament MP Jorge Teme has serious concerns over a fish market built by the government in Maubara, in the municipality of Liquisa, that lies abandoned by the community and that is being use as a goat pen.
He added the market was built to sell fish to the community but instead it is being used by animals.
“We spent money building the market to be used for its intended purpose, so why was it abandoned?” asked MP Teme at the National Parliament, in Dili.
The government should routinely check and control all the markets built by the government in every municipality so that they are adequately used rather than being abandoned.
“Otherwise this is just a waste of money,” said MP Teme.
In response to the concerns the Vice Minister of Agriculture and Fishery Marcos da Cruz said sellers abandoned the fish market because they lost their patience waiting for buyers and also because the markets did not have freezers to keep the fish fresh to be sold.
“They need fridges or cool boxes with ice to keep their fish fresh so people can buy their fish. They could not wait around for people to come and buy their fish so they moved elsewhere they can sell their fish quicker,” said Vice Minister da Cruz.
He added that other fish markets have since been abandoned including the market in Taibesi and Manleuana. He noted that government did spend a lot of money building the markets but that this happened during the time of V government.
“They just take the fish to sell elsewhere.”
He added also that the problem is not with the government’s lack of control rather the fish sellers also need to be conscious about how to use the markets built for them.
Lurdes Gonsalves who sells fish said the fish markets built by the government were good but that the government should also have had a good policy on how to mobilise buyers to buy fish at the fish markets.
“That’s the problem we are experiencing right now. The markets were built very far and buyers just don’t want to travel that far,” she said also.
