Monday, November 13, 2006
SRP marketing arm gets more funds for project
THE marketing arm of the South Road Properties (SRP) will get another P4.6 million in financial assistance from the Cebu City Government this month.
The amount, on top of the P3 million it received last June, brings to a total of P7.6 million the budget that the Cebu Investments Promotion Center (CIPC) got this year.
The City Council authorized Mayor Tomas Osmeña last Wednesday to enter into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with CIPC chairman Roger Q. Lim for the City to provide the center P4,586,916 to promote and market the SRP.
P37 million
With the approval, CIPC will already have received a total of P37 million from the City Government in the last 12 years since it was created to sell the 240-hectare facility here and abroad.
CIPC, a non-profit office founded by Osmeña, was designed to bring investments to create jobs in Cebu and market the SRP.
But since its creation and the SRP’s completion, so far, the City still has to get a single investor to commit to locate in the property, which is pegged at P5,000 to P10,000 per square meter.
Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, head of the committee on budget and finance, said the council has been calling on the CIPC officials to appear in an executive session for them to shed light on the status of marketing the SRP.
Financial plan
“We will be inviting them to another executive session once we set another budget hearing this month,” she told Sun.Star Cebu.
CIPC managing director Joel Mari Yu submitted to the council last week a proposed work and financial plan and request for allotment.
At P1.36 million, representation allowances will eat up the bulk of CIPC’s plan, which the mayor approved.
Some P580,000 will be spent for local travels, P430,760 for its road show presentations in Japan alone, P316,536 in the Hong Kong trip, P177,749 in the Taiwan trip, P319,924 in Singapore and P203,115 in Korea.
It will spend P254,100 for technical consultancy, P300,000 for capital expenditures and P532,682 for miscellaneous expenses.
The CIPC will regularly develop and maintain its own website at P110,000.
The center did not attach to its request for allotment the breakdown of specific items in its miscellaneous expenses for the year.
Pesquera said, though, that the liquidation report on the expenses for 2005 was already submitted to the City Accounting Office.
Consultants
“Funds for the requested allotment will not be released until they submit their liquidation report,” she said.
In 2002, the Commission on Audit had noted that CIPC consultants were receiving fees as high as P30,000 to P38,000 plus a monthly pay and P5,000 in cash gifts.
This was higher than what city officials, even the mayor, received.
CIPC, described by then governor Pablo Garcia as Cebu’s best salesman, got nearly P20 million in financial help from the Cebu City Government from 1995 to 2001.
It received P3 million yearly from 2002 to 2004 and P4.7 million last year. (GAC)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (November 13, 2006 issue)
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