Wednesday, September 03, 2008 SM City Rosales to open in November
ROSALES -- The biggest mall chain in the country will open its branch here, the SM City Rosales, in November.
“SM is a magnetic force for other business groups to come here in our town, and this will trigger development. Expected also is the big volume of shoppers coming here. We see a possible traffic problem,” said Mayor Ricardo Revita.
He, however, said the local government has been preparing to avert the traffic problem.
SM City Rosales is located along the national highway in Barangay Carmen near the boundary of Tarlac and Rosales, Pangasinan.
Revita said the first concern they addressed was the central parking terminal, which was established a few meters away from the mall. A dry run was conducted for two years.
The implementation of the tricycle color coding started last year. All tricycles plying in the town are colored white with a body number visible even from afar. Tricycle operators are also required to get a franchise and business permit.
“Letting tricycles from neighboring towns will be hard as it will only contribute to the traffic problem. They can transport passengers from their town to Rosales but they cannot pick up passengers within the town. If we will let all of them through, we will have a problem with traffic, aside from the fact that tricycles should not be in the national highway, and Carmen is along the national highway,” he said.
As to Pampanga-Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union expressway, he said there is a provision in the project plan for an interchange in Rosales.
The mayor said based on the original plan of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the interchange will be in Barangay Tomana, which is near the town proper.
The town proper is a congested area. ”If the vehicles from the expressway will pass through Tomana and the town proper, we will have a problem,” Revita said.
He said in the recent public hearing for the project, he proposed that the interchange be constructed instead near the common terminal.
Revita said the project planners and the contractor took note of his suggestion and he was urged to seek audience with DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. for its approval and for the revision of the original plan.
Aside from the interchange, Revita said the Municipal Government is also mapping out a parallel diversion road (McArthur Highway-Cabanatuan) so that those going to SM City Rosales will no longer pass through the town proper.
“We are also doing an arrangement with the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) and the SM group for them to register their company here as head office and not as a branch. In that case, they will pay their taxes here and this will translate to more revenue for the municipality, more services for the people,” he said.
Revita stated that the additional revenue will help the local government finance the ambitious diversion road.
An option, he said, in case SM mall will not be registered here as a head office, is to request SM company to fund the construction of the diversion road and charge it later as tax credit to SM City Rosales.
Meanwhile, SM City Baguio information officer Karren Padilla said the mall will have approximately 42,000 square meters retail space.
Its main anchors are the SM Department Store and the SM Hypermarket. It will also include SM Appliance Center, ACE Hardware, Watsons and more than 100 boutiques, specialty shops and restaurants.
It will have four de luxe cinemas and parking facilities that can accommodate about 700 vehicles. (LCMY/Sunnex)
