The Public Private Partnership for the People Initiative selection committee (P4SC) of the city government is close to completing the initial stage of negotiations with the proponent of the city public market modernization project.
City Administrator Bonifacio dela Peña, P4SC chair, said the negotiating teams of the city and original proponent status (OPS) holder SM Prime Holdings Inc. are now on the last negotiation term, which is the cost of rental to be paid by the proponent to the city government.
He said the city is currently waiting for the decision of SMPHI management on its proposed rental amount. Once approved, the proposal will be offered to the P4 finance committee and after an agreement is reached, it will be submitted as recommendation to the P4SC en banc which will deliberate and come up with a decision.
The rental cost is the last of the 34 terms of negotiations of the city and the proponent. Dela Peña said the amount cannot be divulged yet until the parties finish negotiation process.
After the negotiation process, he said they will come up with the terms of reference (ToR) based on the negotiated terms, then the same will be subjected to Swiss Challenge, where any interested third party proponent can challenge the OPS holder’s offer.
The OPS holder has the right of first refusal, which means it has the right to match the best offer from a third party proponent.
The P4SC will then choose the proponent with the best offer and with whom the city government will enter a contract, which will be submitted to the city council for confirmation.
Dela Peña said based on the first 33 negotiated terms with SM, the parties agreed on the tenant mix, wherein the proponent developer shall offer goods and services that are not offered by the city’s market tenants.
Another highlighted term is the percentage in area to be occupied by existing market tenants and the developer, which will be 70-30 ratio.
Dela Peña said the city succeeded in negotiating the ratio from 70 percent for the developer and 30 percent for the city to more or less 70 percent for the city, which will accommodate the existing market and with excess space available to new stall owners after the proponent agreed to the city’s request to add an additional floor to be occupied by the city.
He said the selection process for new tenants shall be handled by the City Treasurer’s Office.
Dela Peña they are hoping for the ongoing negotiations on the proposed market development to succeed for it to move forward to the next stage soon. – Hanna C. Lacsamana
