Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez is eyeing a public-private partnership or a land swap agreement with the Yanson family for the construction of a new Burgos Public Market in Bacolod City.
It would be more convenient to build the new permanent market on the two-hectare Roy Yanson property also in the Burgos area than at its current one-hectare site, he said at a press conference on Monday, January 8.
It would then be a bigger market, he said.
If the new market is built at the site where the existing one is located the vendors would have to be relocated to a temporary site at the Yanson property that would cost P160 million to build, he said.
The city would also have to lease the Yanson property where the temporary market will be located, he said.
Under a PPP the city government would save the money for a temporary market and the lease of the Yanson property, he said.
Under a PPP or land swap agreement the vendors would only have to move after the new market is built at the Yanson property, he said.
The city will, however, have to find a balance so the stall rental of the market vendors remains the same under a PPP, Benitez said.
Under the joint venture the Yansons could provide the land and the city government the building, he said.
The city government is also in discussion with the Yansons for the purchase of its property adjacent to the city government’s Arao relocation site, Benitez said.
The purchase will allow for the expansion of the city’s relocation site, he said.
The Yansons own 17 hectares in the area that they are selling at P1,500 per square meter, he said.*