EDITORIAL - Going full blast

With many sectors and organizations now starting to throw their support behind the project modernizing Cebu City’s Carbon market, it will just be a matter of time before the undertaking goes full blast.

It is safe to say that since the project has already gotten the nod of City Hall --which is a partner of developer Megawide in the joint venture -- and other government agencies, it is all systems go for its realization.

Added to the growing voice that supports Carbon market’s development is the strength of those we consider as the heart and soul of the market’s daily operations since its inception -- the vendors themselves.

Last week, dozens of ambulant vendors gathered to express their support for the development of the biggest public market in the city. Carrying placards, the vendors strongly denounced the move that many of them view as only causing division among their ranks in order to upset the project.

Of course, it is the right of those who oppose the project to air their sentiments about what they claim as ‘defects’ in the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) entered into by the city government and the project’s developer.

However, it remains to be seen whether there is really substance to such claims. The JVA had gone through serious scrutiny by the City Council. That is why it is impossible for it to put the city government and the vendors themselves at a disadvantage.

As many see it, the project’s overall intention far outweighs any contention that the development of Carbon Market would only be another waste of taxpayers’ money because what the stakeholders are really after are the improved welfare of the vendors and the convenience of market-goers.

Carbon market cannot stay at its present state forever. It needs to keep pace with the city’s development. With mushrooming malls and department stores hosting supermarkets that give Cebuanos more convenience, Carbon market must reinvent itself.