SM Prime Holdings Inc. is offering to buy or lease 6.5 hectares owned by the Negros Occidental provincial government along Gatuslao Street in Bacolod City for the construction of a P2.5 billion   convention center and hotel, its president Hans Sy said yesterday.

Sy, who met with Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. and Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) at the provincial Capitol in Bacolod City, said they also plan to build commercial buildings on the 6.5-hectare property and expand their current SM City Mall at the reclamation area by 40,000 square meters.

“We submitted an unsolicited proposal to build a hotel and convention center on property owned by the provincial government behind the Capitol. The initial estimate of investment is about P2.5 billion,” Sy said.

Two men died on the spot when their motorcycle hit a concrete barrier at the Lupit bridge near the San Antonio Abad parish Church in Brgy. 40, Bacolod City, at about 2 a.m. yesterday.

Traffic investigator Police Officer 1 Francis Philip Cañete identified the fatalities as Harold Tolete, 21, of Eufemia Compound in Brgy. Taculing and Ernesto Peñaverde of Purok Felecidad in Brgy. Estefania, both in Bacolod.

Cañete said Tolete was driving his Honda XRM motorcycle, with Peñaverde as back rider, and was heading south of Lacson Street when the accident happened.

Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. yesterday said while he supports the call to urgently address the fuel price disparity between Negros Occidental and Bacolod City,  he is urging transportation groups not to hold a strike  on May 16 and 17.

Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District), on the other, said he  filed  Resolution 1218 Monday asking the House Committee on Energy to investigate why Negros Occidental is paying much higher prices for its fuel.

The United Negros  Drivers Operators Center is spearheading the two-day transportation strike to demand that government  acts on the fact that fuel sold in Negros Occidental is P4 to P5 liter higher than  in Metro Manila, UNDOC secretary general Jesses Ortega said.