CH extends deadline for Carbon vendors

The Cebu City government has extended the deadline for the vendors and squatters to voluntarily vacate the Unit II of Carbon Market to give way to the construction of a P135 million ramp.

Instead of February 21, city market administrator Racquel Arce said yesterday that they gave vendors and squatters until February 25 to leave the area.

This after city administrator Francisco Fernandez learned that WT Construction, the contractor of the project, could not yet start the civil works because it has not received notice to proceed from the Cebu City Engineer’s Office.

“Ato gi-extend ang deadline kutob sa Monday aron tagaan sila (vendors) higayon makapanghipos,” Arce said yesterday.

Arce said they would also clear Unit I of the market and the entire Quezon Boulevard of vendors. There are at least 100 vendors in Unit I who are formerly occupants of the razed building of Unit II, and around 400 to 500 ambulant vendors along Quezon Boulevard. 

She added that the evicted vendors would be temporarily relocated in a lot that was vacated by Young Builders Inc. She said they would bulldoze the area to clear it and accommodate the vendors.

However, Arce said they would have to prioritize the legitimate vendors over the ambulant ones because they could not all be accommodated in the relocation space.

The city government has contracted the services of W.T. Construction in 2004 for the reconstruction of a ramp from F. Escaño Street to F. Gonzales Street with a contract price of P134,500,000.

The Cebu City Engineer’s Office earlier explained that the project has not started immediately due to existing problems with Young Builders Inc., the former contractor of the project.

The civil works on the market’s reconstruction was delayed after Young Builders built a fence and refused to allow entry to the area until the city pays it an additional P6 million.

Young Builders had been awarded the P22-million contract by the previous administration to rebuild the Unit 2, which was burned in 1998.

But when Osmeña assumed office, he decided to have a P135-million ramp built to decongest traffic in Carbon area. — Wenna A. Berondo/LPM