BY MAVIS NISHIMURA PODOKOLO

PRINCIPAL inspector of the Honiara City Council (HCC) Ms Ella Rizworld has called on all Bahai street food vendors to cooperate with them (HCC) and comply with the council’s food hygiene and safety regulations.

This was made this week following the vendors’ lack of cooperation with HCC inspection officers and breaching of the council’s food by laws.

HCC is looking to gauge the vendors to work together and introduce hygienic standards to their service.

Speaking to a food hygiene and safety workshop this week Ms Rizwold said they carried out an initiative of street food vendor’s inspection earlier this year followed by demolishing of street food stalls on that site but they (vendors) still did not comply to HCC laws.

“Therefore I strongly called on Bahai street food vendors to cooperate with the us and come with one common understanding (HCC) because the particular environment the foods are prepared and sold is not conducive for the type of foods like fish, chicken and Rice, it can poses major health risks and microbial related issues.

“This is due to the location it was located near the road where the foods can easily expose to dusts particles which are small enough to be exhaled may cause health issues and the lack of water to name a few ,” she said.

Rizworld furthered the council does not prohibit them from selling their food.

BY MAVIS NISHIMURA PODOKOLO

TWENTY-plus street food vendors underwent a three-day food hygiene and safety workshop in Honiara.

The workshop was initiated by United Nations Women purposely to support women in the Solomon Islands in the arena of advancing women’s economic empowerment.

Women’s participation in economic empowerment activities allows them (women) to effect positive changes in their own lives and communities, contributing to positive effects for the whole nation.

Speaking to this paper Ms Ella Riswold, Principal Inspector of the Honiara City Council (HCC) who facilitated the training, said the training was based on food hygiene and safety and it was a prerequisite for all who venture into the food business in this country.

“Hence it is important for all food vendors to have basic understanding of food handling and preparations with regards to hygiene and safety and as well as knowing the councils by-laws that govern the foods.

“Good food hygiene is an important practice that we need to observe to ensure our food is safe for consumption, without this healthy practice, harmful germs that cause food poisoning can spread very easily during food preparation process, it is therefore our full responsibility to keep the food that we and our loved ones eat very clean and safe during and after preparation on a daily basis,” she said.

She said it also essential for vendors to have this knowledge because they also contribute to the economy of this country in a small but important scale.

The market for change project is a six year, multi-country initiative that aims to ensure market places in rural and urban areas of Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are safe, inclusive and non-discriminatory promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.

BY LYNTON AARON FILIA

PLASTIC bags is the highest contributor of plastic pollution in Honiara, it is reported.

A Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDMM) report says plastic bags is recorded as the highest among 20 types of rubbish collected per day.

From the litter boom demonstration survey at the Mataniko River MECDMM carried in 2015, plastic bags account to 170, followed by film like plastics 163, plastic bottles 65, ice block 8 and soft plastic 7 – per day.

According to the J-PRISM project report collaborated with the Honiara City Council, Honiara City is estimated to generate solid waste of 80 tonnes per day with total amount of 29,000 tonnes per year.

Organic waste is estimate to 40-50 percent, and if urban population increases at its current rate, solid waste generation is expected to double within 18 years, the report said.

In the pacific, around 1.8 trillion bits of plastic waste have accumulated along a single stretch of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and California, a new report shows.

The report found amount of plastic buildup across the pacific ocean in terms of debris could be as much as 16 times higher than previously findings.

Trawling the seas for floating plastic waste, the research team retrieved bottle caps, discarded fishing nets, toys and degrading containers.

The 80,000 tonnes of litter estimated to have gathered in the patch translates to 250 discarded pieces per person around the world.

With the high polluted plastic debris in Solomon Islands, Permanent Secretary for the MECDMM Dr Melchior Mataki said cabinet has endorsed a new waste management and pollution control strategy.

He said the strategy includes policy direction to address plastic pollution.

Mataki also adds his Ministry together with SPREP through the SPC Ridge to Reef project will strengthen focus on the Mataniko catchment and Honiara coastline which described as hub of plastic debris.

To manage littering in Honiara city, HCC’s Chief Inspector Mr George Titiulu said they will re-enforce the Honiara City Council 2009 litter ordinance.

He said the ordinance has been there, and if officers find individuals, residence and shops within Honiara City littering, they will be fine with $1000 on minor littering and $10,000 for major littering.

Titiulu said this actions a part of rubbish management in the city which includes plastic pollution and other solid wastes.

Titiulu said rubbish management in Honiara is everyone’s business and HCC welcomes any initiative from communities.

He commended the Friends of the City for taking a step which shows they have concern over Honiara.

This year, the World Environment Day is celebrated under the theme: “Beating Plastic Pollution”.

Solomon Islands is part of the global campaign to educate people about managing plastic pollution.

THE Solomon Islands Valuers Association conducted a workshop with Australian valuers to identify the main challenges in their work and look for ways to improve land valuation processes in Solomon Islands.

The workshop, arranged through the Pacific Community (SPC) with financial assistance from the Government of Australia, brought together licenced valuers from across the Solomon Islands, to meet and learn from Australian valuers David Sullivan, Paul O’Kelly and Steven Venter from International Valuation & Property Services (IVPS).

At the workshop, the valuers discussed criteria that contribute to land values, such as location, topography, services available on the land, the lot area, along with other important factors that influence the market value of land.

Issues raised and discussed at the workshop included the influence of clients, the lack of reliable sales data and the lack of training and formal guidance currently available to valuers in the Solomon Islands.

Speaking after the workshop, Valuer General Joyce Galo said “this was a very useful opportunity to bring valuers together, to point out our mistakes and so we can start to work out how to improve land valuations and stamp duty collection in the future.

“We will be working more closely now with the Inland Revenue Division to identify under-reporting of land valuations, and to ensure that stamp duty is paid based on the transfer consideration of the land, not just the unimproved value of the land.”

SPC’s Alan McNeil highlighted the importance of the workshop, and praised the commitment shown by the Solomon Islands Valuers Association to improve their professional capacity saying, “Valuers to date have lacked the guidance needed to produce reports based on uniform, consistent criteria, and this inevitably has led to questions being raised about the accuracy of land valuations.

“We are now helping valuers to develop a reliable, accurate, and professional system for determining land valuations, as a means of contributing towards national development goals.”

The valuers from IVPS will be engaged by SPC until October, during which time they will assist the Valuer General and her unit to develop stricter criteria on how land is valued in Solomon Islands, which can then be adopted by the valuation profession.

–MLHS PRESS