The Cebu City Market Operations Division conducts their regular inspection at the Carbon Market. | Photo Courtesy of the Cebu City PIO
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Only some of the ambulant vendors of the Carbon Market will be accommodated in the temporary interim market Megawide will build for vendors of Warwick Barracks and Freedom Park.
Market Operations Division (MOD) head Irvin Cabales said that regular stall owners from the said areas will all be accommodated in the interim market because they will all be affected by the construction of the new Carbon Market that will run for two years.
This means that 758 regular stall owners are assured a spot in the interim market. The same cannot be said for the ambulant vendors around the Carbon Market.
READ: Megawide promises completion of Interim market by last quarter of the year
Only a portion of the interim market, mostly on the exterior portion, will be allotted for the ambulant vendors and the space cannot accommodate all 1,700 registered vendors.
“As of now, nagpadayon pa ta sa verification sa mga ambulant vendors. Nagpahigayon ta’g orientation unya actual survey pod. Naay ubang ambulang vendors ang naa sa interim market unya ang uban adto sa ubang units depende sa zoning,” said Cabales.
Zoning
The MOD plans to apply the zoning policies grouping goods together like meats, fish, fruits, grains, vegetables, so that ambulant vendors will be distributed according to their zones.
Although not all ambulant vendors will be placed in the interim market, some of them will be in the other units of Carbon Market, including Unit III.
He assured that all 1,700 ambulant vendors will eventually be accommodated in the new Carbon Market that Megawide is expected to complete in the next three years.
For now, consultations continue with the vendors to gain their insights on how the interim market, and eventually the new Carbon Market, will be operated.
Primarily, the Market Authority is reviewing the Market Code, which needs to be amended to allow Megawide to collect rent on behalf of the city provided that the rent will return to the maintenance of the market.
The city will still earn from Carbon Market as Megawide is set to pay an Annual Guaranteed Payment (AGP) of P5 million for the first year, P14 million for the second year, P34 million on the third year, and P50 million on the fifth year onward until the concession period ends.
READ: Cebu City to get P5 million from Megawide this year for Carbon Market modernization
The new Market Code will also now include the guidelines in all other public markets to have a uniform policy all over the city when it comes to the public markets, except for the special case in Carbon Market.
“Naa pa ta sa initial stages sa proposal. Ato nakitan nga ang market code kay naka-focus ra sa Carbon Market. Bag-ohon ang market code to accommodate the new Carbon Market building ug ang ubang merkado sa syudad,” said Cabales.
He assured that the amendment of the Market Code will be done by the City Council and all stakeholders will be given a chance to give their insights on any amendments to be done.
The Market Authority hopes to pass the amended Market Code within the year.
/bmjo