The redevelopment of two major markets in Iloilo City will make them more accessible and convenient to vendors and buyers, and serve as destinations for tourists, thereby creating more economic activities in the metropolis.

A capsule-laying and groundbreaking ceremony was held on Monday, Sept. 18, for the Iloilo Terminal Market, also known as the “super market”, and the Iloilo Central Market that will be developed through a public private partnership (PPP) with SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SMPHI).

In a press conference, Mayor Jerry Treñas cited a market that he saw in Barcelona, Spain, which not only caters to vendors and local buyers, but also tourists.

“The market is not just a place where people go to buy goods. They go there as part of the tourist destination. That’s what will happen to our central market and super market because it will be accessible; they have parking spaces,” said Treñas, who did a side visit to a modernized local market in Barcelona during his official trip to Vienna, Austria early this month.

He said prices of goods in public markets are cheaper when compared with those sold in malls.

Activities in the surrounding areas of the Iloilo Terminal Market and Iloilo Central Market will be revitalized once they go on full-swing operations, Treñas said, adding the two projects stand to benefit around 2,800 market vendors.

In August 2022, the city government awarded the 25-year lease agreement for the redevelopment of the public markets to the SMPHI with an initial P3 billion investment or P1.5 billion per project.

The markets will have retail spaces and parking areas. They will have a building management system, a computer-based tool that controls and monitors the mechanical and electrical equipment, a fire detection and alarm system and a computerized maintenance management system, according to a statement released by the Public Information Office (PIO).

Maricel Mabaquiao, head of the Local Economic Enterprise Office (LEEO) that will manage the markets, said the new structures will have three floors –the first will cater to the wet section, the second for the dry goods and the last will be the parking area.

The completion time is between one to two years.Perla Lena/PNA