SM Prime, RLC get OPS in Baguio project

SM Prime Holdings and Robinsons Land Corporation qualified among the three applicants for the market rehabilitation project during the pre-selection stage

BAGUIO CITY — The Baguio Market Vendors Association (BAMARVA) failed to get the approval of city hall officials for the redevelopment of the Baguio City Public Market whose collective decision was to award the original proponent status to its rivals, SM Prime Holdings and Robinsons Land Corporation.

Baguio City Administrator Bonifacio de la Peña who chairs the Public-Private Partnership for the People’s Initiative Selection Committee (P4-SC), said the granting of the OPS to the proponents do not seal the deal as it is only the first stage in evaluating the unsolicited proposals for the city’s infrastructure projects.

He said only SM Prime Holdings and Robinsons Land Corporation qualified among the three applicants for the market rehabilitation project during the pre-selection stage.

Bamarva, the third applicant, failed to make the grade.

We are willing to go through the process until the final awarding of the project.

The city government and the OPS awardees will next negotiate on the terms and conditions and the technical and financial aspects of the redevelopment.

This negotiation stage will likely last one and a half month and the hope is that an agreement is reached, De la Peña added.

As an agreement is forged, they will then set the terms of reference after which a Swiss challenge is conducted where Baguio City will entertain proposals from other companies who may offer them more favorable terms and get the contract for themselves.

According to De la Peña, more or less 15 private firms have indicated the intention to participate in the Swiss challenge.

Bamarva president Zosimo Abratique, a lawyer, said the association is not giving up on its goal as sole developer of the city market.

“We are willing to go through the process until the final awarding of the project,” he declared.

He said the people of the market are bent on developing the market they built with their lives for many years.