85 percent of negotiations for market development completed

The negotiating teams of both the local government and SM Prime Holdings were able to agree on almost eighty five percent of the 34-point technical and financial terms of the proposed multi-billion city public market development project for the city to have a show window and probably the best market in the Asia Pacific region.

For the past several months after a number of extensions, the negotiating teams of the city and the proponent had been extensively discussing the final terms of reference of the said project that will be offered for the prescribed Swiss Challenge once the same had been published for competitive bidding. 

Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong stated that once both parties have agreed on the contents of the final terms of reference for the project, the design of the city public market development project will be published for the appreciation of the public.

He claimed that the negotiating teams are now currently discussing the 16-point financial terms of the project after the technical contingents of the parties were able to reach agreements on the 18-point technical component of the proposed terms of reference.

Under the Swiss Challenge, any interested developer can file an offer to develop the city public market which must be superior compared to the one that was presented by SM Prime Holdings that was issued by the city’s Private Partnership for the People – Selection Committee (P4-SC) the Original Proponent Status (Ops) to pursue the implementation of the said project.

Earlier, the P4-SC opened the proposed city public market development project to interested developers which will be issued the coveted Ops by the said body. 

Initially, the P4-SC recommended the issuance of the OPS to one of the two contenders, Robinsons Land Corporation, but the same was subsequently reversed where the OPS was eventually issued to SM Prime Holdings.

The Swiss Challenge is part of the 19 step process that must be compiled by the local government before the project will be awarded to the complying bidder that will be qualified to implement the multi-billion projects.

The modernization of the city public market had been one of the priority development projects that had been put in place more than 2 decades ago to improve the current state of the city’s show window being one of the most frequented places in the country’s Summer Capital.

The supposed development of the city public market was to be implemented in 1996 but concerned groups of vendors questioned the constitutionality of the ordinance that prescribed the guidelines for the development of the market and the validity of the subsequent contract which was dragged up to the Supreme Court (SC) through the years.

The SC eventually upheld the decision of the lower and the appellate court that dismissed the case that was filed by the groups of vendors and ruled in favor of the constitutionality of the ordinance that prescribed the guidelines for the development of the public market and the validity of the contract related thereto. – Dexter A. See