KORONADAL CITY (PNA) – The city government is seeking more funding to facilitate the development of its main public market into a “mallengke” or mall-type structure.

Mayor Eliordo Ogena said Friday they were exploring additional grants, and the possibility of applying for a loan to continue with the upgrading and expansion of the public market, which already received funding of around P91 million in the last three years.

“This is a continuing project, and we’re moving towards further modernizing our public market and develop into a mallengke,” Ogena said in the local government’s radio program “Tingog sa Pagsanyog.”

The mayor said they were targeting the completion by next month of the project's ongoing third phase, which received P40 million funding from the national government.

Ogena said the market building project, which also received a P30-million grant from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), is due for completion on December 15 based on its timeline.

The Dumper Philippines Taxi Drivers Association Inc. or Dumper Party-list group also provided an additional P0 million from its congressional allocation.

Ogena said Dumper also committed P10 million for the other necessary facilities.

The city government initially poured in some P51 million for the first and second phases of the public market’s expansion and upgrading following a huge fire in October 2017 that gutted nearly half of the complex.

A project briefer said the two-level wet market building would have modern amenities like elevators, new comfort rooms, and a wider mezzanine area.

Ogena said they pushed for the conversion of the public market into a “mallengke” to make it more competitive.

He said its facilities should be at par with the wet markets of the two downtown shopping malls to attract more market-goers and usher in better opportunities for the city’s “original traders.”