Wednesday, March 21, 2007 Osmeña: Future of the SRP By Antonio V. Osmeña Estatements
THE foreshore area of the southern part of Cebu City that was reclaimed by the City Government with an area of 2,872,369 square meters, excluding Kawit Island, was originally conceived for lease to light industries.
The near completion of the reclamation project and the completion of the coastal highway traversing it has created keen competition among real estate developers and big businesses, to reclassify the project into commercial use.
Today, the South Road Properties (SRP) is merely a large tract of land.
The City Government needs to decide whether to sub-divide or develop the SRP lots. In practice, the terms subdividing and developing are used interchangeably.
Literally, subdividing merely means the “breaking-up” of one or more large tracts of land into smaller parcels, subject to community regulations, if any, governing the use of the property for which it may be offered for lease or sale.
Where the subdividing is the owner’s intent, he need not incur any additional expenses other than those that are incident to purchase and survey of the land, to place the markers or stakes at intended plot boundaries and to submit a surveyor’s “plat” of the proposed subdivision for a city official’s approval.
It should be noted that the process of subdividing does not require any physical change in the land “per se.”
Whenever land improvements are carried out in accordance with subdivision plans, and expenditures are being made to provide essential site facilities, the field actions are appropriately classified as land developing.
The process of developing is ordinarily far more comprehensive in its scope than that of subdividing and requires expenditures that are greatly in excess of those represented by cost of the “raw’ land.
For over 30 years, the North Reclamation Project, covering an area of 160 hectares, has become a blighted place except for the 13 hectares occupied by SM City Cebu, White Gold Club and a few commercial establishments.
Hopefully, Mayor Tom Osmeña will avoid the same mistake of not implementing restrictions at SRP as imposed by then Serging Osmena Jr.
Mayor Tom’s father Serging Osmena Jr. wanted to make the North Reclamation Project “a city within a city” but martial law was a tragedy to his vision. I hope Mayor Tom can revive Serging’s vision through the SRP.
The offer of SM group, Robinsons and other land developers is disadvantageous to the City of Cebu. Selling the SRP at wholesale price will allow these buyers to reap tremendous financial rewards at the expense of the Cebuanos who own the project.
If the SRP is properly zoned, financed and developed into a specific usage, the retail price of the developed land could be at a minimum of P50 billion.
There are many financial institutions that are willing and able to undertake the full development of the SRP.
The Development Bank of the Philippines, for instance, is financially capable of undertaking the development cost needed, thus allowing the retail selling or lease of SRP subdivided lots.
An honest to goodness marketing begins as soon as the development is made presentable. That is, when the ground is cleared, streets and service utilities installed, signs and markers put in place, and other works.
Mayor Tom Osmeña should do everything in his power to extend equal opportunity to all small and big business establishments to invest at the SRP.
Is the City Government that desperate to pay the loan for the SRP that it will accept any whole sale price offer of big businesses? God had stopped making land and the SRP is the last of its creation.
Hopefully, Mayor Tom Osmeña will make a real estate development at the SRP and prevent big businesses from taking control of the area at the expense of small establishments.
Meanwhile, real estate brokers, who are supposed to be experts in the field, have not suggested their one cent’s worth of suggestion to Mayor Tom in the marketing of the SRP. Surprisingly, they have remained mum.
