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Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Osmeña: Ensuring viability of SRP
By Antonio V. Osmeña
Estatements
STARTED NORTH. The idea of reclaiming the foreshore area of what is now the South Road Properties (formerly South Reclamation Project) was the brainchild of former Cebu City mayor Serging Osmeña Jr.
The north reclamation project, one of his major projects, was developed, operated and owned by a private corporation with the City of Cebu allotted the roadways and a few hectares as its share. In contrast, the SRP is being developed, operated and owned purely by the City of Cebu, or in other words, the people of Cebu.
Unfortunately, when Martial Law was declared, the north reclamation project was taken over by the national government. Everybody can see today the depressed condition of the project. The “city within the city” concept of the north reclamation project did not materialize.
The SRP is a land development carried out in accordance with subdivision plans and expenditures to provide essential site facilities. The process of developing a reclaimed area is ordinarily far more comprehensive in scope than that of ordinary subdivision development, with expenditures greatly in excess of those represented by the filling of the foreshore land.
To be socially, politically and economically successful, reclamation development should be practiced only by the well informed, by men well acquainted with community space requirements, with population and real estate market trends, with community growth and growth patterns, and the absorption rate at which building sites in newly formed subdivisions can profitably be sold.
Mayor Tom should hire men of long years’ experience in the real estate profession or men who are guided by real estate analysts, civil engineers or consultants who have specialized in the highly complex field of land utilization. The recent overlapping of claims of a portion of the SRP within the jurisdiction of Talisay by congressman Eduardo Gullas is definitely due to the negligence of the men managing the project.
Both the officials of Cebu City and Talisay City know the great amount of work and expenditures required to produce the SRP for years. And today it is unfortunate, inaccurate and unfair for the government of Talisay to overlap on the claim of Cebu City.
The SRP borrowing against future income for the purpose of putting the foreshore land into productive use is often an economic necessity, but care must be taken to assure that the project to be financed is well conceived and that reliance to meet the loan obligations is placed not only on the income-producing power of the property but also on the financial integrity and ability of Cebu City.
The community of Cebu should be given the opportunity to earn interest from the SRP by way of the City floating municipal bonds in dominations affordable to the average earners. Why should the financial institutions be the ones to profit from the SRP loan?
The people of Cebu are more than capable of funding the SRP by buying municipal bonds, especially if interest earned is not taxed. Mayor Tom will make a lot of Cebuanos happy because the SRP will be a good investment for as long as the project is managed like a private corporation.
(March 2, 2005 issue)
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