• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Original vendors of the old Talisay City public market in Negros Occidental will receive free rent, water, and electricity at the new public market, which officially opened last month.
These were offered as the city government works to ease the financial burden of relocation and help businesses continue operating during the transition.
Former Mayor Neil Lizares said the free water and electricity provision has been extended by the current city mayor, his wife Mayor Rowena Lopez-Lizares, until December.
The P350-million, two-storey public market, located at Hacienda Sian, Capitan Sabi St. Extension in Barangay Zone 12-A, opened its doors on July 18.
The three-hectare facility, with a total floor area of 32,351 square meters, replaces the decades-old public market along the national highway.
The new market features wider vendor stalls, higher ceilings for improved natural ventilation, upgraded sanitation facilities, and an integrated transport terminal designed to provide a cleaner, safer, and more organized trading environment for vendors and shoppers.
Lizares said that stall owners from the old public market were granted a five-year transition period to help them adjust to the new facility.
Under the transition scheme, rentals will be free during the first year.
They will pay 20 percent of the regular rental rate in the second year and 40 percent in the third and fourth years, allowing them to gradually adjust to the new rental structure, the former mayor said.
Transportation arrangements are also being worked out as commercial activity shifts to the new market.
Following a meeting with the Talisay City working team on Wednesday, the mayor directed city officials to address transportation concerns arising from the rerouting of public utility vehicles.
Among the proposals being considered is allowing public utility jeepneys from the Bacolod City terminal to travel directly to the new public market.
The Talisay Motor Association has also been tasked with exploring direct trips from the Bacolod City terminal to the new market to prevent passengers from having to take a second ride.
With free rent and utilities during the initial transition, the Talisay city government hopes to help long-time vendors relocate without disrupting their livelihoods while transportation and commercial systems around the new public market are being adjusted. | GPB
