CITY Treasurer Romelita Alcantaraa said if the city rents out the third floor of the Malimgas Public Market to call center outfits — now said to be eyeing Dagupan City for their location — at P200 to P250 per square meter per month, Dagupan will realize no sensational income but still a substantial one.

She said although the rental is minimal it is nevertheless better than the almost nil income the city is generating today when the market’s third floor is serving only as a pay parking area.

The third floor of the market can accommodate 112 cars at one time but for three years, the average occupancy in that area was only 10 cars per day, Alcantara revealed.

She said the rental to be collected from call centers would at least boost the income of the Malimgas Public Market but still insufficient to pay for the amortization of the loan obtained by the previous city administration for the construction of the edifice.

Malimgas Market was built three years ago by the Lim administration thru some P350 million loan from Land Bank.

Alcantara believes that once the call centers are in place at the third floor of the market, former stallholders in the second floor who left due to poor business condition will go back.

It is also possible that some stalls in the Malimgas Market, especially the food and service shops, may opt to operate for 24 hours a day in order to serve call center workers

Dagupan has opened its doors to call centers now shopping for locations in northern Luzon after saturating Metro Manila for sometime.

Councilor Alfie Fernandez, chair of the committee on trade and industry, said these call centers are checking out locations in Clark, Baguio, San Fernando City, La Union and Dagupan City.

Fernandez said the city has reserved the whole third floor of the Malimgas Public Market, as location for call centers to be called Information and Communications Technology Center (ICTC).

Fernandez admitted that the city will only earn minimal income from the call centers but the downstream effect of these to the city’s economy, he added, is quite big.

Each call center agent is expected to earn at least P15, 000 a month, Fernandez said, adding that most of this will, however, be spent here for his or her housing, food, recreation and others.

“Aside from the fact that we have more money in circulation, the call centers can assure employment for qualified graduates from various colleges and universities here”, he added.

About 3,000 call center agents from Dagupan and Pangasinan who are now employed in Clark, Manila and Baguio may now decide to come back to man the call centers that will be established here, Fernandez said.