OPS ng SM dipa final sa market development

October 24, 2020 Metro BLISTT

LUNGSOD NG BAGUIO – Ang gawad ng original proponent status (OPS) ay hindi nangangahulugang tuwirang imprimatur para sa SM Prime Holdings na ipatupad ang market modernization project, sinabi ni Mayor Benjamin Magalong.
“Hindi pa nanalo ang SM. It was just given the OPS to publish the design and to start the negotiations for a public-private partnership (PPP) deal for the city market project,” ito ang nilinaw ng Mayor sa buwanang pulong ng mga punong barangay noong Oktubre 14.
Sinabi niya na ang pagpili sa pinakamahusay na kompanya upang ipatupad ang proyekto sa merkado ay nangangailangan ng mahabang proseso at ang paggawad ng OPS ay paguumpisa lamang.
“With the OPS, SM can negotiate the deal. If the negotiation fails, then we will not pursue the deal but if the negotiation succeeds and we agree on the design and meet all the conditions, then we will start framing the terms of reference,” paliwanag ng mayor.
“Once the terms of reference had been defined and approved, these will be published to invite other companies to participate in the process called the Swiss challenge.”
Sinabi ni Magalong na ang Robinson Land Corp. at iba pang kompanya ay maaaring lumahok sa Swiss challenge. Pipiliin ng lungsod ang pinakamahusay ng panukala mula sa mga lumahok at nanguna ang SM.
Ang proseso ay magpapatuloy hanggang ang isang alok ay hindi na malalampasan at idedeklarang panalo.
Sinabi ng mayor na ang proseso ay tatagal ng apat hanggang limang buwan upang matapos.
“One thing we can assure you is that we will have a market that is ours, market that is clean that we can be proud of,” ani mayor. Nauna nang ininderso ng “PPP for the People” (P4) selection committee ang Robinsons ngunit ang OPS ay iginawad sa SM matapos ang pagsusuri na nakitang may mas bentaheng alok ang SM, ani mayor.
“We made the decision to maintain the integrity of our PPP process especially since the market project is just our first offering and there are others in the pipeline like the waste-to-energy, elevated railway, sewerage system, bulk water and others,” pahayag ng mayor.
“What will our future investors say, that Baguio City can settle for inferior proposals? We do not want that for our city. Let us raise our credibility and integrity. We are fair and we are straight here. I want Baguio to be synonymous with good governance, transparency and trustworthiness,” dagdag niya.
Nagbigay ng kusang panukala (unsolicited proposals) ang SM at Robinsons para sa development ng merkado at nag-alok na magtatayo ng multi-storey structures sa ilalim ng 50-taon na upa.
APR-PIO/PMCJr.-ABN