ILOILO City – Once redeveloped, the Iloilo Terminal Market or “Super” and the Iloilo Central Market are seen to be the first green markets in the Visayas, according to Mayor Jerry P. Treñas.
The city mayor said solar panels, natural light and natural ventilation will be used in the two markets.
Under a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme, the city government has signed a lease agreement with SM Prime Holdings for the redevelopment of the city’s biggest public markets.
Treñas said a wastewater treatment plant will also be established, which means the treated wastewater can still be used for other purposes like for watering plants and flushing toilets.
The city mayor earlier went to Manila to see the proposed designs for the Central and Terminal markets.
“May mga comments pa kami but ginapasa ta man sa aton mga pumoluyo. Kon may mga comments kag suggestions, pamatian ta,” the city mayor said.
He emphasized that the designs of the two markets are not yet final and all the comments will be taken into consideration. He assured that the original design of the heritage portion of the central market will be copied.
“All comments will be collated, sent to SM Prime and we will sit down again,” the city mayor added.
According to Treñas, there will be over 300 parking slots but the city government asked SM Prime if they can double the number to almost 700.
The city mayor noted that since there will be a parking space in one of the floors of the markets, there will be no more on-road parking and all roads such as the Aldeguer and Guanco streets in the Central market and Mabini, Fuentes and De Leon streets in Terminal market will already be two-way.
“May mga loading and unloading bay man for bagsakan,” he added.
The city government has been pushing for climate-resilient markets that will inspire other developments in the city.
“We want to modernize these markets and part of the transformation is to make these structures resilient to the impacts of the changing climate,” Treñas earlier said.
A February 2020 Climate and Disaster Risk Assessment Research on Iloilo City noted that since the city has relatively low elevation and highly dense populations in the coastal areas and along the Iloilo River, communities are highly susceptible to flooding and storm surge.
Further, the study also noted that in recent years, particularly in 2007, 2009 and 2015, Iloilo experienced major water shortage problems due to El Niño.
“Our public markets are being restored to allow our local vendors to compete and also to give more convenience to Ilonggos. Climate change-resilient features to the new structure will further add to the positive impact of the public market transformation,” added Treñas.
He said they will tap the expertise of SM Prime in integrating such climate-resilient and sustainability features in the new structures.
The city mayor cited in particular the rainwater catchment tank that SM integrates in its malls, which allows the harvest of large volumes of rainwater particularly in flood-prone areas, helping keep neighboring communities safe and less prone to flooding./PN