BAGUIO CITY – The city government is evaluating and assessing the two private proponents for the development of the city’s public market to ascertain which company will qualify as the original proponent of the multi-billion project that will serve as the saving grace of the city economy that has been battered by the implementation of the extended Luzonwide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) due to the ongoing fight against the dreaded Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) 2019.
City Administrator Bonifacio dela Peña said the city’s P4 committee plans to come out with a decision by the end of this month which between SM Prime Holdings and Robinsons Corporation will be given an original proponent status so that the city will be able to proceed with succeeding processes for the eventual improvement of the city’s public market which has been stalled for over 2 decades ago because of the case filed by several associations of vendors.
He disclosed the city’s P4 committee already decided to disqualify the Consortium of Baguio Market Cooperatives which signified its intention to participate in the submission of proposals to develop the market because its documents were not complete despite having provided the same extended deadline to complete the requirements.
Since the reconvening of the city’s P4 committee, the city administrator said the members already met thrice to deliberate on the proposals on the market development before it confers to any of the 2 proponents the original proponent status for the project to move on.
Earlier, the city government planned to come out with a decision which of the two proponents will be awarded the original proponent status but the same was overtaken by the implementation of the extended Luzonwide ECQ, thus, the timetable for the project had been adjusted until the prevailing ECQ will be lifted.
According to him, the city’s P4 committee is has the opinion of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Center on the modality of pursuing the project aside from the additional documents that were submitted by one of the proponents which will be the subject of deliberations by the committee in its future meetings for it to decide on whom to confer the much needed original proponent status.
Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong said that the implementation of the market development project will serve as a spark plug for the city’s economy because apart from generating additional jobs, its effect to the city economy will be multi-fold.
The city government is pushing for the implementation of the proposed P6 billion market development project to be undertaken through private-public partnership to allow the city to have a modern market for residents and visitors to enjoy the benefits of the improved state of the market facility.
By Dexter A. See