CARBON MARKET BUILDING. Mayor Edgardo Labella talks to a senior citizen as he checks the simultaneous distribution of the financial assistance for senior citizens in a file photo. Labella on Thursday (Sept. 26, 2019) said he is open to the proposal of SM Prime Holdings to build three market buildings at Carbon Public Market, with the 70-30 space-sharing scheme. (Photo from Mayor Edgardo Labella's Facebook page/Cebu City PIO)
CEBU CITY – Mayor Edgardo Labella on Thursday said he is open to the proposal of SM Prime Holdings to construct modern market buildings at the Carbon Public Market, at no cost to the city government.
If the project pushes through, Labella said the new and modern design for three buildings to house the Units 1, 2, 3 of Carbon Public Market includes a stall area on the ground floor, parking area on the second floor, and the delivery unloading and loading area on the third level.
According to him, the new design of the market buildings will ease the traffic situation as no more delivery vehicles will block the flow of traffic on the roads surrounding the area.
Labella allayed fears that the prices of goods sold in Carbon will increase if the city government allows SM Prime Holdings to build the three market structures to house the wet, dry and vegetable sections, stressing that the shopping mall company will not become the operator of the market.
He said the city government is studying a 70-30 scheme, which means that the city will occupy 70 percent of the building space, while SM will occupy and sell its merchandise in the remaining 30 percent of the space without any rental fee to the city government.
“I want that the city should not be placed in disadvantageous position. Of the structure, 70 (percent) goes to the city, and 30 (percent) goes to SM. That’s my proposition,” Labella said in a radio interview here.
The terms, he said, will be implemented at one setting.
"They will earn income. They will not be renting the property. They are not buying the lot. They will just put the structure,” he said.
The mayor, however, said he is open to negotiations for the best terms which will not compromise the interest of city government and the mall operator.
Carbon Public Market is situated in the downtown area of this city. It is considered as the oldest and largest market in Cebu and Central Visayas.
The name Carbon came as the area was previously a coal depot for Cebu’s Railway.
SM Prime Holdings, on the other hand, operates a chain of malls in the country, with 72 of them across the country at present and about two dozens more are scheduled to be open. (PNA)
