Mall giants SM and Robinsons are entertaining plans to set up shop in the old City Hall area in Bogo City.
But Mayor Celestino “Junie” Martinez Jr. said such plans will only commence after the local government completes their transfer to their new office.
Martinez said the Poblacion area is already congested, which compelled city officials to move to their new site one and a half kilometers away.
“We have limited areas. We plan to expand Bogo City,” he said in Tuesday’s 888 News Forum.
Martinez said they could not give the area in Poblacion to either of the two malls since each store needs at least five hectares of commercial space.
Still, Martinez said their transfer to their new office will “trigger development fast” in the Poblacion area.
The mayor said he expects the new City Hall under construction to be completed by May next year, in time for Bogo’s fiesta.
He said funds to complete the City Hall building will come from their Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), which he expects to increase after the Supreme Court finalized their cityhood status. The new building costs P250 million.
Martinez said he will write President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to ask him to consider making the IRA allotment retroactive to the time Bogo was declared a city. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus