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CEBU
CITY—The Cebu City government is hoping to settle
development plans with interested locators at the
240-hectare reclaimed South Road Properties (SRP) in the
next three months, City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said.
The
mayor said development plans are being shuffled back and
forth between interested developers and the city, which
he admitted is being “choosy” in the development it
wants on the property.
“I am
the problem. I am very strict in the development in the
area. If I don’t want their plants and their structures,
I send back the plans to them [developers],” Osmeña told
BusinessMirror.
He said,
however, that discussions are going into the right
direction, and agreements on the development plans and
structures could be accomplished before the end of the
first half of 2008.
“The SRP
will come into full bloom in the next three months. The
mango that we planted is not only flowering but is
already bearing fruit,” he said.
The SRP,
completed in 2001, was built through a 25-year loan
package obtained by the city government from the Japan
Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC). The deal was
the first major overseas-loan package obtained and being
paid for by a local government unit to a foreign funding
institution.
“Our
critics said the city will go bankrupt because of this
loan. We are not bankrupt and this project will make us
less dependent on financial help from the national
government,” the mayor said.
After
the agreement on the development, however, the
developers and the city would have to undergo bidding on
the property after the Commission on Audit (COA) ruled
that the city could not enter into negotiated sale or
lease for the property.
“COA
required us to go through bidding, but I don’t see any
problem in that,” the mayor said.
At least
three realty development giants are positioning to get
huge parcels of land at the SRP for various projects,
the mayor announced earlier. The developers are eyeing
leisure, residential and business-process outsourcing
areas.
A
separate area is also being set aside for industrial
locators. |
