THE plans of SM Prime Holdings Incorporated and Robinsons Corporation were presented to the City Council this week, baring a 50-year lease for the Baguio City Market if one of the deals pushes through.
During the presentation on Monday, June 29, 2020, at the City Council, City Administrator Bonifacio Dela Peña said the unsolicited proposals given by the mall giants will take into priority interests of over 3,000 legitimate vendors in the city market.
Costing P5.4 billion, SM Prime Holdings proposes to build a seven-story building with the first two floors dedicated to local vendors, three top floors allotted for the mall component of the project, and two levels for parking that can accommodate at least 1,900 vehicles.
It will take SM 2.5 years to build the project.
Robinsons Corporation's project, meanwhile, proposes to construct two buildings: one for the use of local market stakeholders and the other for the mall component of the project totaling P6.148 billion. The project will take four years to build.
Robinsons has yet to indicate how many floors it intends to build.
Both proposals will also allot green spaces atop the buildings for gatherings designed as a multi-use site for the city using Cordilleran inspired designs.
Dela Peña said there will be zero to a minimal competition of goods from vendors to mall stalls to give local sellers the spotlight in selling local goods.
A transfer area will also be built for vendors while the project is being constructed.
The new market can accommodate 5,396 vendors and can generate P46 million in its first year of operation and the potential to increase to P500 million in its fifth year.
The cost of rental to the city by both mall giants will be offset or represented by the development they will make to the market.
Today, the market generates P20 million a year for the city.
Dela Peña said when they received the proposals at the start of the year, it was verified by committees looking into legal and institutional matters, technical, financial and socio-economic.
The city administrator said selecting proponent will be announced soon but emphasized this is not yet awarding the project but giving back the project to the proponent to advance into the next stages.
Dela Peña said there are 19 stages before the project is awarded, subdivided into four main stages.
The city’s P4 committee has so far received, evaluated and is about to award the Original Proponent Status (OPS) and will now move to the negotiation stage.
Dela Peña added it is in this stage that the city can bare what details its wants and, if negotiations push through, the terms of reference will be made and can be challenged by different entities.
Failure of negotiations can also take place.
An awarding or a selection can only happen after confirmation by the City Council.
Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong, who also faced the City Council with Dela Pena, said the City budget officer and treasurer assured a more systematic public market with the development project.
“It has been made clear to us that once the market is finished, it will be turned over to the city and will be owned by the city and the city will manage it. We will also dictate on rent and policies. We will promulgate the polices to have a well-managed market,” Magalong said.
Magalong added with the market development in full throttle, the problem of subleasing at the market will now be addressed.
“We will now address the problem on subleasing, dahil napakarami pala ng sublease. It is something prevalent in the market... (We have said in the past) we are losing 200,000 a day at the market. Hopefully, with the new market we will put up, we can address all of these,” the mayor said.
He added cashless transactions will also be set up to address corruption and virus transmissions.
Magalong said a proposal from the market cooperative was also received by the city but failed in meeting qualifications when evaluation of the documents was done.