BAGUIO CITY – Some P25 million was allotted by the local government for the improvement and upgrading of the perimeter of the Melvin Jones football ground that will serve as the relocation site for the vendors of the night market.
Councilor Lenadro B. Yangot, Jr., chairman of the City Council Committee on Market, Trade, commerce and Agriculture and a member of the Baguio city Market Authority (BCMA), said the identification of the permanent site for the conduct of the night market is the priority of the BCMA to help free Harrison road and provide the vendors and the public adequate spaces to maneuver.
He added |Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan had been time and again reiterating the desire of the local government to relocate the night market area to the perimeter of the Melvin Jones football ground without sacrificing the conduct of sports and other crowd-drawing events in the area.
“What is important is Melvin Jones will still remain as a football ground and it is only its perimeter that will be concreted which will be used by the night market vendors for their nightly activity,” Yangot stressed.
The local legislator said there are some minor adjustments that are currently being undertaken by the City Engineering office for the planned perimeter concreting and the installation of adequate lighting fixtures within the perimeter of the football field where the night market vendors will be relocated as soon as the project will be completed by next year.
More than 1,000 night market vendors sell their goods in limited spaces along the 500-meter stretch of Harrison road that now serves as one of the major attractions in the city at night.
Earlier, Mayor Domogan claimed the perimeter of the Melvin Jones football field is the most suitable place that will serve as the relocation site for the night market vendors but the local government must institute the necessary improvements in the area, particularly the concreting of its perimeter to be able to accommodate the vendors and the public during the conduct of the night market operations.
He underscored the city’s night market has become a source of livelihood for vendors, an added attraction for residents and visitors alike, an added income generator for the local government and an established activity that makes the city activities alive at night.
According to the local chief executive, the use of Harrison road as a venue for the city’s night market operations is just temporary because the use of national roads for such activities is actually prohibited under existing laws, rules and regulations and what is just being done for the operation of the night market is tolerance while the local government is locating a permanent site where to transfer the night market activity to free the roadline from being closed nightly for the said operation.
The local government is generating at least P1.3 to P1.5 million monthly income from the regulatory fees being paid by the night market vendors for them to be able to occupy their allotted spaces along the stretch of Harrison road for the night market operations.
By Dexter A. See
