New fish market ‘to attract tourists’
With its booming centers and well-preserved historical sites, Cebu City has been a getaway destination for many tourists.
These visitors are a common sight in shopping centers, museums and churches, but never in a fish market.
But once the proposed new Pasil-Suba Fish Market is operational, it is expected to draw in tourists, both local and international.
Councilor Joy Augustus Young said that although there is no program of works and estimates yet for the project, the plan to develop the fish market into a tourist spot has been floating even during Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s previous terms.
“Dugay na kaayo ni nga plan. What’s different about this new fish market is that aside from better, cleaner facilities, it will have a seafood resto and boardwalk,” he said.
Young said that a foreign group had previously pledged funding for the project, but it did not push through following the change in administration at that time.
“It’s okay, though, because for the funding, motabang man si (Cebu City 2nd district Rep. Rodrigo) Bebot (Abellanosa). Once that is all settled, we will build it as soon as possible,” Young said.
But how will the new fish market attract tourists if its location is notorious for alleged illegal activities?
Young said the new fish market is just one of the many measures aimed to change the negative image of coastal barangays.
He said that once the new market and the new Pasil-Suba High School and Pasil-Suba Senior High School are operational, it will upgrade the area.
The schools are expected to rise in the old Pasil fish market by 2020.
Aside from these infrastructures, there is also a plan to build a relocation site in the area that will be patterned after the condominium units for the urban poor in Barangay Lorega San Miguel.
“We want to raise the standards and have a holistic solution for them. Right now, ubos pa kaayo ang ilang image, but once the area is developed, the people will also have a positive mindset and change for the better,” Young said. /