Friday, June 01, 2007 Cebu City Hall to sell 30 has. of SRP to pay P500M loan
AFTER doing a “cosmetic job” at the South Road Properties (SRP), the Cebu City Government will bid out a 30-hectare lot there to raise the P500 million needed for debt servicing this year.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña said yesterday the 30 hectares will yield more than enough to cover the City’s loan payment for 2007, if sold for at least P7,000 per square meter.
Lots at the SRP can be sold for as much as P14,000 per square meter, and can raise up to P4.2 billion from the 30-hectare property alone, he said.
The City has already paid some P250 million to the Japan Bank for International Cooperation for its SRP loan last February, and is scheduled to make its second and last payment for this year in August, for the same amount.
“That will give us P2 billion if sold at P7,000 per square, or P4 billion if sold at P14,000 per square meter, and P500 million is nothing. That’s why I’ve been saying this is a good project; it’s only risky because it’s a very big project,” Osmeña told reporters.
He is optimistic that developers who have expressed interest to buy land at the SRP will join the bidding, including SM Prime Holdings Inc., Bigfoot Global Solutions, Filinvest and Robinsons Land.
But before the City holds the bidding, the mayor wants to finish a cosmetic job at the SRP and get rid of some eyesores.
“We’re going to bid it out soon but we’ll finish the cosmetic job first. It’s just a concrete fence that will separate the SRP from Mambaling so they will not see any Badjaos and urban poor areas there,” Osmeña said in a news conference at his residence.
It was the mayor’s first press conference since he filed his certificate of candidacy last March 27 and after he had a post-angiogram operation to repair a vein on his upper right thigh last week.
As advised by his doctors, Osmeña will continue to do his paperwork and hold meetings at home until his wound completely heals, to avoid an infection and other complications.
He expects to be back at City Hall in a week’s time.
Also yesterday, the mayor announced the plan for the City to enter into a joint venture with Filinvest and Bigfoot in developing a high-end residential and multi-purpose complex with an international yacht club.
Osmeña believes it is a good time to undertake such kind of development because the real estate market in Cebu is doing well.
“Whatever the joint venture will be, we have to raise P500 million this year to take care of our debt service. I don’t foresee that it’s going to be a problem because we can raise that. The most important consideration we should monitor is the real estate market, which is very good. The market here is very hot,” he added. (LCR)
