The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said it supports the construction of the New Baclaran Market, which will provide a permanent location for illegal vendors.
The market was planned to be set up along the Redemptorist Channel in Barangay Baclaran in Parañaque City and Barangay 76 in Pasay City with the aim of addressing the longstanding road congestion issue in the area for over 50 years.
On Thursday, MMDA chairperson Romando Artes and Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) chairperson Alexander Lopez signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Parañaque City Mayor Eric Olivarez and Pasay City Mayor Imelda Rubiano for the project.
Artes said the signing of the MOU signifies the project’s importance in reducing traffic, providing business opportunities for vendors, and enhancing economic growth in the Baclaran area.
Baclaran is known as a center of trade in the southern part of Metro Manila and attracts around 100,000 devotees and pilgrims, who visit the Our Mother of Perpetual Help Church situated along Roxas Boulevard.
The area has been consistently targeted for clearing operations by the MMDA due to the road congestion caused by the presence of vendors and illegally-parked vehicles.
Baclaran is also part of the Mabuhay Lanes, the alternate routes used by private motorists to avoid the congested Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA).
“It is also the hope of the MMDA that this project will help in addressing the perennial traffic problems in the area,” Artes said.
The MMDA, along with its partner agencies and local government units, intensified road clearing operations on Mabuhay Lanes and other major streets to ease traffic in the metropolis.
It previously sought the support of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. for plans to build a permanent area for vendors in Baclaran to provide them with selling spaces that would keep them off the roads.
Olivarez and Rubiano thanked the PRA and MMDA for carrying out the New Baclaran Market project for the development of their cities.
“We are one with the government agencies in making the landscape of our community better as this is one of the grand visions of Pasay – to become a sustainable and smart eco-city,” Rubiano said.
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