Springs Market looking up
At the monthly council meeting for October, the Springs Fresh Produce Market was highlighted as being in need of the Metro's attention.
The market, which has been in operation in Springs since 1985, has won the Market of the Year award twice, in 1995 and 1996.
But over the past few years, the market has been deteriorating and there has been little maintenance.
According to the October agenda at the council meeting, the City Planning and Economic Development Oversight Committee visited the Springs Market in August to determine the status and ability to contribute to the local economic development of the city and discovered how bad the conditions were.
According to their report, the committee stated the market’s annual turnover has reduced drastically from R315 405 517 in 2007 to R285 009 945 in 2012.
The Department allocated about R12 million this year for the completion of the refurbishment including improvements to cold rooms, ripening rooms, control rooms and fencing.
There will be another R2 million budgeted for the installation of a new CCTV system, as the issue of security at the market is a problem.
According to the report, the Market Manager has not been able to draw up the market’s much needed business plan as it is understaffed and he has been helping out in other areas of the business.
He has, however, committed to getting the plan drawn up by the end of December.
At present, the market has created a total of 413 job opportunities and the committee has noted that if the market can become fully functional, it has the potential to create over 500 jobs for the people of Ekurhuleni.
The Springs Market is placed as number five in South Africa currently, and it is for this reason the committee is looking to fast track the upliftment of the market, to bring it to its former glory as the number one Fresh Produce Market in the country.
