ILOILO City — Vendors and shoppers at the Iloilo Terminal Market have been advised to exercise caution when carrying goods through the market’s stairways as both elevators remain unavailable, forcing users to manually haul products and purchases between floors.
The city government’s Local Economic and Enterprise Office (LEEO) issued the advisory as the city government works to restore one of the elevators within the week while the other unit awaits formal turnover by the contractor.
LEEO head Maricel Mabaquiao encouraged vendors and shoppers to carry their goods gradually to avoid difficulty and excessive physical strain when going up or down the market’s floors.
The blue elevator has been non-operational since the latter part of August after its control board was damaged.
The city government is currently undertaking the procurement process for a replacement control board, also known as the Car Operating Panel.
“We will try our best to have the elevator repaired within this week,” Mabaquiao said.
The other elevator beside the damaged blue unit also remains unavailable because it has yet to be formally turned over by the contractor to the city government.
The simultaneous unavailability of the two elevators has left market users dependent on the stairways, particularly vendors moving products and shoppers carrying purchases between floors.
Mabaquiao said the city government is working to address the situation while the procurement of the replacement component and the turnover of the other elevator are being completed.
Restoring elevator operations is expected to improve accessibility and ease the movement of vendors, shoppers and goods within the market./PN
