The City of Baguio deserves the best deal

Earlier this year, the local government of Baguio City has announced an open bid to private entities and cooperatives for the redevelopment of the Baguio Public Market.
The rehabilitation plan aims to ultimately improve and support local businesses, especially the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and to provide more opportunities for its vendors through the help of public-private partnership. While the LGU of Baguio has pointed out that the bid is still open, SM Prime Holdings, Inc. and Robinsons Land Corporation are the only two proponents vying for the deal as of this writing.
Both proponents have recently submitted unsolicited proposals for the modernization of the Baguio City Public Market. As the Public-Private Partnership for the People (P4) has made its recommendation to the Office of the Mayor, let’s take a closer look at some of the more salient points of their project bids. SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SM Prime) proposes a wider gross leasable area of 34,000 sqm – giving space to over 5,300 stalls versus that of Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC) which can only accommodate roughly 4,000 stalls at 24,000 sqm. SM Prime’s bid, therefore, impresses a foreseeable higher public market revenue coming from its 44M revenue collection in 2019.
On land area, RLC seems to go over by 1.5 hectares which might be a stumbling block as the bid progresses since the said area is still subject to an existing lease. SM Prime, meanwhile, is fully compliant. Meanwhile, SM Prime’s advanced lease payment is relatively higher at PhP 76,000/sqm upfront as compared to RLCs’ PhP 38,000/sqm upfront and over time. Also worthy to note is SM Prime’s PhP632M fund for relocation site as part of its overall proposed PhP2.32B budget. Robinsons, on the other hand, failed to factor this in which can possibly disrupt the public market business during the course of its proposed four-year construction.
At the end of it all, and as the final decision now rests with the Office of the Mayor, Baguio City now awaits the best deal for the Public Market stakeholders and all its residents.
PR

Amianan Balita Ngayon