Friday, July 06, 2007 Opposition vows to pursue Agora project deal By Danilo V. Adorador III
ALTHOUGH heavily outnumbered, opposition members in the City Council will "vigorously" oppose the multi-million Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) deal for the redevelopment of Agora market and terminal.
As the administration is poised to have the P255 million BOT contract ironed out, another objection came from the donor of the Gusa passenger jeepney terminal property who said the draft agreement opens a hole for a second PUJ (public utility jeepney) eastbound station.
Once the city constructs a second PUJ terminal for two similar routes, businesses around the five-year-old Gusa facility will dry up and the city won't recover its investments there, said businessman James Giam.
But without considering minor commercial issues hounding the plan, the major provisions of the proposed BOT deal are themselves onerous and "unacceptable," said Councilor Zaldy Ocon, the minority leader in the council.
Ocon was referring to the draft BOT contract the city was planning to forge with local firm Mega Farm--or with the winning bidder--which gives the contractor 28 concession years, plus absolute tax holidays and other administrative perks during the concession period.
The councilor reiterated that just like the BOT deals in Carmen and Agora markets, the one for Agora gives the developer undue advantage that could be potentially injurious to market vendors and to the City Government as a whole.
Ocon and the two other opposition councilors admitted that the Agora market and terminal facilities need immediate facelifts, but they said this could be done through publicly funded minor repairs.
"They can even avail of millions of loans for roads that only carabaos tread, why not avail of another for a simple refurbishment of a market?" Ocon said, referring to the allegedly overpriced Balulang-Taguanao road built four years ago.
Meanwhile, Giam said he and other businessmen who have commercial stalls surrounding Gusa terminal was relieved when the City Council removed a provision that would have allowed the creation of another eastbound terminal for jeepneys.
But Giam said they were still dismayed with the amended contract because a provision leaves open the possibility that a PUJ terminal can still be erected in Agora.
He cited sections 13 and 14 of Article 3 in the draft contract, which state that the New Agora terminal will house eastbound buses and "public utility vehicles."
"Is not a PUJ a public utility vehicle? They should clarify this, so that we can have peace of mind here in Gusa terminal who stand to lose once PUJs leave this area," Giam told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro by phone.
Aside from this, he said the City Government has yet to recover the construction cost of Gusa terminal and splitting the number of jeepneys will only reduce the daily toll-fee collection at the present eastbound depot.
