ILOILO City – The proposed redevelopment of the two biggest city government-run public markets here is in the pre-negotiation stage, according to Mayor Jerry Treñas.
SM Prime Holdings is interested in the redevelopment of the Iloilo Central Market and Iloilo Terminal Market or “Super” under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.
The pre-negotiation kicked off on Tuesday between the PPP Council of the city and SM Prime.
“Once the terms are finalized we will go to the next step. We want to prove that the city can successfully enter into a PPP arrangement. We want partners for our development projects,” said Treñas.
Earlier, the city mayor said the result of the negotiation will be subjected to a “Swiss challenge” to formally start the bidding
A Swiss challenge is a form of public procurement which requires a public authority (usually an agency of government) which has received an unsolicited bid for a public project, or for services to be provided to government, to publish the bid and invite third parties to match or better it.
“Ga-resort kita sa PPP because waay kita gasto but we remain a partner and thus enjoy the benefits,” said Treñas.
The city mayor assured market vendors that none of them will be displaced.
The city government through the Local Economic Enterprise Office will still be managing the ground floor of the markets where the vendors are situated.
The rest of the floors will be up to the investors./PN
