Worried by he deplorable condition of the Kaduna Street Fruit Garden market in Port Harcourt, traders have appealed to the Rivers State Government to embark on remedial work on the drainage system which have defaced the environment of the market.

Speaking to The Tide last Friday, a seed tomatoes dealer, Mrs Esther Bensons lamented over what she described as “polluted business environment” caused by negligence  on the side of he market operators.

According to her, “we have been putting in our best to keep the environment of the market clean every Thursday weekly sanitation in markets, motor parks and public places as well as the monthly sanitation exercise. But the condition of the market now is beyond shovel and broom. The stage requires total rehabilitation and re-channeling of the flood.”

Another women leader in the market, Mrs Irene Kalio told The Tide that the roof of the warehouse at the hub of the market is leaking thereby flooding the are, adding that several attempts have been made to draw the attention of the management but all to no avail, inspite of the N30 daily fee they collect from the traders in the ware house.

Mr Sunday Ekot, an executive member of the market union in his contribution noted that most of the maintenance work was carried out by the union and that the union keep track with the weekly and monthly sanitation exercise in the area, stressing that the problem of the market is drainage and flooding that have besieged the place lately due to heavy down pour experienced recently in Port Harcourt.

Ekot regretted that the managers of the market are not helping matters in this regard, rather all they are interested in is the revenue adding that the transporters recently tasked themselves o fill the  access road with hard core.

He appealed to the Rivers State Government to come to their aid.

All efforts to get the comments of the market management proved abortive as they declined comments.