LA TRINIDAD, BENGUET, Philippines?A P268-million commercial complex planned to be built in the public market area here is expected to further alter this town?s landscape from a flower and strawberry producing economy to a fast urbanizing capital.

Local officials are hoping that the shopping mall would boost the town?s bid to become the Cordillera?s second major business center after Baguio City.

?The trend now is to erect malls. It?s a good attraction for businessmen,? Mayor Artemio Galwan said.

He said the three-story building, which would occupy 3,910 square meters of the market area, would enhance the town?s revenue and attract more capital from investors who found nearby Baguio City already a crowded market.

?The complex would respond to the need to systematize business in the town whose daily economic activities had grown with too many stakeholders,? he said.

But vegetable traders, who used the public parking area for their daily transactions, feared they would be displaced.

Other businessmen said the mall?s stalls could provide unfair competition since the public market?s two major structures could be reduced to second class stores.

They said the mall would also worsen the town?s traffic problem.

Traffic policemen said the intersection in front of the public market, which would be fronting the mall later, has become a bottleneck for more than 4,000 vehicles that pass through the town?s main road daily.

Gov. Nestor Fongwan assailed the project, saying it would alter the vegetable trading system that has made the trading post and the public market?s parking space as base.

He said he ignored talks about the proposed project last year, only to be surprised that the contract for the mall?s construction had already been signed.

?I thought the officials would maintain the parking space which was designed for farmers and vegetable traders during my term,? said Fongwan, a former La Trinidad mayor.

Jarco Realty Development Corp. will build the complex on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) scheme for 30 years.

The mall is expected to be finished by 2012, after which Jarco will start paying rent ranging from P25 to P31.90 per square meter for 30 years.

The town is expected to earn a total rent of P39.9 million before the mall?s ownership is transferred to the town government.

Galwan said he was not surprised by the concerns of local businessmen, but he said the project?s potential economic benefits far outweighed the disadvantages.

?The mall would become an attraction for investors. We wanted to absorb the spillover of investors from Mt. Province, La Union, Pangasinan and Baguio City,? he said.