12:43 PM
A group of merchants Medellín Retail Plaza They took to the streets this Wednesday in a new protest day on behalf of a remodeling project which has been divisive since last year.
In context: Parking building armed with garrote in the Retail Plaza
In a tour that began around 9:00 in the morning in that trading center and ended at the La Alpujarra Administrative Center, the merchants asked elimination of an extra fee which will be charged for a series of infrastructure interventions.
“There is no clarity of What is the legal basis for charging a fee? whose proceeds will be invested in adaptations to a public good such as the plaza, nor how the amount was determined,” the Antioquia Independent Trade Workers Union, an organization that brings together the dissidents, said in a statement.
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According to what was stated by said union, the quota that they seek to eliminate has a value of $130,000.
The dispute over this project dates back to the end of last year, after the Coomerca cooperativein charge of the administration of the square for two and a half decades, will launch a project that seeks to undertake several reforms.
As argued by that organization, given that the place has more than 40 years oldit would be necessary to enable spaces such as parking towerthe change of 12,000 square meters of roofs and the installation of a solar panel system to improve the complex’s energy supply.
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In the case of the parking tower, it will include a capacity of 560 cars and 910 motorcycles on three levels.
In December 2023, Edison Alexander Palacio, manager of the Retail Plaza, contradicted several of the merchants who indicated that said project would have been arbitrary and maintained that the same It was approved after more than 23 sessions with 1,720 merchants.
“The vast majority not only agree, but they support and are very happy with the new projection of the future of the plaza,” Palacio then expressed in dialogue with this newspaper, pointing out that Coomerca had also undertaken a process of review with merchants who expressed problems paying said quota agreed for the works.
In contrast, from the perspective of the merchants, the president of the union that protested today, Onofre Herrera, argued that Coomerca would not have the power to build on the plaza landsince he himself is a well from the District of Medellín.
“Coomerca is simply an administrator and the land to build belongs to the municipality, which is the one that has the responsibility of building and then handing it over to an administration, either to a private entity or part of the municipality itself, but the tenants should not be obliged to pay that money”the union leader then expressed.
