BAGUIO CITY – More than one thousand seven hundred vendors were displaced and over P24 million worth of private and public properties were torched into ashes after a 4-hour fire gutted certain portions of the city public market here late Saturday night.
The fire reportedly started at the extension area of the city market’s Block 4 at around 11 pm Saturday and immediately spread towards the Block 3 area before it was declared fire out at around 3 am Sunday morning.
The local government is currently looking for a feasible relocation site where the displaced vendors will be able to continue their regular vending activities after the said fire incident.
On the other hand, the Cordillera office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the City Social Welfare and Development office (CSWDO) are now conducting a registration of the affected vendors for the provision of financial assistance from the government.
Initially, the city is eyeing several roads in the city as the possible vending areas for the displaced vendors while efforts are being done to allegedly fastrack the public-private partnership (PPP) for the eventual development of the city public market where one of the components of the same is for the potential developer to put up a relocation site for the vendors who will be affected by the proposed market development.
Arson investigators are still conducting mapping out operations in the areas that had been affected by the fire and looking into the cause of the fire.
Earlier, the city is setting its sights on the modernization of the public market where the selection of the developer was tainted with issues and concerns that were raised by various sectors questioning the ward of the original Proponent Status (Ops) to SM Prime holdings.
The local government wants to undertake the development of the city public market through the so-called public-private partnership pursuant to an ordinance crafted in 2017 providing for the mechanisms on how to implement such form of project.
Initially, the projected cost of the ambitious development of the city public market is around P6.4 billion where the whole 3-hectare market area will be improved.