KALIBO, Aklan – Vendors may have to wait a little longer before the phased development of the public market here commences.
Rebuilding the market is a local government priority but the coronavirus pandemic is getting in the way.
In September 2019, the decades-old public market along Toting Reyes Street and Roxas Avenue was partly destroyed by fire.
Planning for the phase-by-phase Kalibo market construction began after the fire but the actual rebuilding has yet to start. The municipal government is currently focused on its pandemic responses.
But it has allowed the vendors to set up temporary stalls on sidewalks, and even in the still serviceable middle portion of the gutted public market.
According to Kalibo Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator Engineer Marlo Villanueva, the local government should acquire first a property on Judge N. Martelino Street for the relocation of vendors, then construct temporary stalls.
The good news, according to Villanueva, is that funds for the proposed relocation site, more or less 6,000 square meters, will be taken possibly from government loans.
The local government of Kalibo secured a P691-million standby loan from a government bank recently for the town’s development projects. The first tranche of P103 million will partly finance the purchase of the market relocation site, development of quarantine facility and motor pool in Barangay Nalook, and the construction of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) facilities in 16 barangays.
The existing public market will be turned down to make way for a new market with parking spaces, rooms for transient tenants, and designated fish, poultry, meat, fresh fruit and vegetable sections, among others.
The initial cost of construction is P300 million.
The vendors will be lucky to relocate in the latter part of 2021 or early next year depending on the construction phases.
“May engineering design na para sa relocation site. Kailangan matapos muna ang construction bago natin ilipat ang mga vendors,” he added.
Once completed, Kalibo’s premier public market with functional facilities will offer more business opportunities for vendors, provide consumer-friendly destination for traders and consumers, and create a safer marketplace in the capital town./PN
