Fruit importers and wholesalers are still working in a depleted environment in spite of talks over the past two years on the restructuring of the Ta’ Qali fruit and vegetable market.

The Malta Agritrade Organisation is concerned about the lack of health and safety in the fruit section at the wholesale imported vegetable market. It listed a number of complaints.

The front gate, permanently open inwards at a right angle, is wedged between the ground and the stone-slab wall fencing the area, keeping it from tumbling down.

When it rains, filling the numerous potholes to the brim, it is impossible for drivers to detect crevices and steer around them.

Over the past years, the vendors forked out money to buy stainless steel containers to store the products and maintain a “guarantee of high quality food”.

The containers replaced others made of asbestos. Yet, the tent stretching across the porch of the merchants’ stalls was still made of asbestos, the organisation said.

It said the food sector required the “best environment”.

“We’re aware it is not feasible to restructure the whole place because of a larger project, promised for years, which will reform both the management and the physical infrastructure.

“However, temporary measures, including patching the road and providing us with a safe and adequate storage space, would enhance the quality of the products that end up in our family’s kitchens,” a trader said.

“We understand the government cannot reform the market at the click of a finger. Yet, the physical infrastructure of the place is condemned and the authorities should take temporary steps to make the place a safe one to work in.”

A spokesman for the Rural Affairs and Resources Ministry said the government was aware of the state the site was in. That was why in July 2009 it had issued a call for expressions of interest to initiate a general upgrading of the site after consulting the Land Division.

Negotiations on the upgrading of the site were still going on and an application would be submitted to the planning authority in the coming weeks, he said.