Some vendors and buyers have raised concern about the accessibility of Mandaue City’s new public market. The City has an answer to that: electric cars.
Market administrator Musoline Suliva said the City has bought four 14-seater electric cars, which cost P695,000 each, to help transport vendors and buyers to the new public market, located at the back of the Mandaue City Sports and Cultural Complex in Barangay Centro.
In a recent interview, Suliva said the City ordered the “environmentally friendly” cars from China. The electric cars will be delivered this week, although there is no schedule yet for the opening of the new market building.
A ride in the electric car will cost one only P5, if the proposed fare is approved, Suliva said.
He said the City also considers a rerouting scheme that will make the new public market accessible to the public, while reducing traffic in major roads.
Suliva said the new public market will open before the year ends. He said the City Council is in the process of passing an ordinance for the transfer to the new market building. The contractor has yet to turn over the facility to the City, he added.
The old market building, occupied by some 500 legitimate vendors, was damaged by fire in 2002 and is now risky for vendors and buyers, Suliva pointed out.
“We can’t compromise the safety of our vendors and buyers,” he said.
He added the transfer to the new public market will spare vendors from tough competition, with two malls being constructed near the old public market.
Suliva said the old market gets flooded during downpours, causing inconvenience for vendors and buyers.
He said the transfer to the new market building has the support of legitimate vendors, adding those who oppose are the “come-and-go” vendors.
The old market building will remain, but only dry goods and Mandaue delicacies will be sold there, Suliva said.
The new public market is a 10,000-square-meter structure that sits on a 16,460-square-meter lot. The remaining 6,460- square-meter area is for the market’s roads, parking, easement and mini-parks.
Most of the funds used in the project are taken from the P379-million loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines and allotments from the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Market officials have put up a vegetable garden on the rooftop of the old public market, in support of Mayor Jonas Cortes’s advocacy on backyard gardening and garbage segregation.
The rooftop used to be where the biodegradable wastes from the market’s vegetable section were disposed of. They decided to plant vegetables when the wastes turned into rich soil.
