PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — A PHP192-million two-story public market is expected to rise on a 28,000 square meter site at the bay area here to ease congestion in the two other public markets.
Architect Ezrha Miguel, executive assistant IV at the City Mayor’s Office, said Tuesday the proposed public market near the old San Miguel warehouse will have 1,000 stalls in the main building.
Around 480 stalls will be set aside for wet market on the ground floor and 670 for dry goods on the second floor. The total area that will be occupied by the main building is 7,423 square meters in front of the Puerto Princesa Baywalk.
“Kung available na ang funds ay ibi-bid na kasi meron ng engineering drawing. Pagkatapos niyan, i-po-post na ng Bids and Awards Committee (If funds are already available, it will be put on bidding as it now has an engineering drawing. After that, it will be posted by the Bids and Awards Committee),” she said.
The funds for the new public market will come from the supplemental budget of the city government.
The public market will also include an outdoor area with 74 stalls for street food vendors, adequate parking space, roadways, and landscaping, to be completed in 600 days, she said.
It will have two access roads and will also be accessible from the bay through the existing fish port. This will also enable tourists from the cruise ship port nearby to have an easy access to the market, she said.
“Pagbaba ng mga turista ay didiretso lang sila doon (As soon as they go down their cruise ships, they can walk and go there directly),” she said.
Demetrio Alvior Jr., assistant city tourism officer, said the new public market will address the need of the city to have a clean, orderly marketplace that the locals can be proud of.
“Tayo ay world-class destination dapat ay world-class din ang facilities para maka-extend tayo ng excellent service sa mga turista (We are a world-class destination and it follows that our facilities should also be world-class to extend excellent service to our tourists),” he said. (PNA)
