There are some stallholders ‘not ready’ and ‘not happy’ about the new Melbourne Markets premises, in Epping, due to open for trade next Monday, August 3, according to Jim Cochrane, of Jim Cochrane Farms. “We have a B-Double truck we use to deliver produce, and they can’t even find parking for it,” he told Fresh Plaza. “They haven’t got any spaces, it’s on a ‘first come, first served’ basis and we’ve told them that’s not good enough.” The comments come after other traders complained of their refrigerated coolrooms not being ready on time for them to move in.
The layout of the new Epping premises is geared towards increasing the flow of exports from the markets, but that does little to comfort stallholders such as Mr Cochrane, who said people will not be able to come and pick up their own produce from the new stall, as they were used to doing. “We’ve been here 154 years in the business, and in my opinion it’s unworkable, and I don’t know what’s going to happen long term.”
Melbourne Market Authority Chairman Steve Wallace told the ABC that the company was doing what it could to please both farmers and exporters with the new layout. "We'll offer a service to them and we'll do our very best to make sure that they are properly looked after, but we recognise the changes in the industry," he said of farmers who wanted to bring produce direct to markets. The opportunities will outweigh any short-term discomfort, he believes. "We can offer an export opportunity for producers all over Australia here at Melbourne. Bring it here, make it available to export buyers and we can have it on a plane very quickly after it leaves the market."
The Public Private Partnership, or PPP, project will open on schedule next Monday, and Mr Cochrane said he believed that it would be the private participants, who have been promised rent from that date, who would be pushing to avoid delays. “I think there’s a meeting being organized with Fresh State and others trying to get the date pushed back. I know one retailer who was told they could move in Mid-August whose coolrooms won’t be ready,” he added. “They will certainly be trying to get the date pushed back.”