BACOLOD City – Vendors at Burgos Public Market would have to temporarily vacate to make way for the P525 million worth of renovations.
Engineer Loben Ceballos, officer-in-charge of the City Engineer’s Office (CEO), said the city will commence bidding in January.
The proposed two-story new market will have a public jeepney terminal, a second-floor parking lot, and a food court. It will also feature high ceilings for better air circulation.
Ceballos said the new market will have 900 stalls compared to the current 740 stalls.
Vendors will temporarily occupy the 20,000-square-meter vacant lot in Barangay 19, just across the market, to be leased by the city.
Councilor Celia Flor, chairperson of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Markets, said the proposals and plans were laid out to vendors during a committee conference on Thursday, Nov. 30.
Among the concerns raised were the size of the area allocated per vendor and the duration of their stay in the temporary market.
Flor explained that there would be six months of mobilization and another six months for constructing the temporary market. Only then can they transfer.
The councilor is set to visit the Burgos Public Market to learn about the other concerns of the vendors.
The Burgos Public Market is one of the three major markets in this city. The two others, the Central and Libertad markets, will also undergo major renovations.
Ceballos said that the Burgos Public Market is a priority for rehabilitation since it is ideal for the parking and terminal within the market concept.
“If this is successful, we will replicate its design in all of the markets here,” Ceballos stressed./PN
