Thursday, August 23, 2007 City Council gives Tomas authority to negotiate, sell 32 hectares of SRP land
SO the Cebu City Government can start earning from the sale of the South Road Properties (SRP), the City Council authorized the sale of a 32-hectare lot subject to bidding and government audit rules.
The council passed a resolution yesterday authorizing Mayor Tomas Osmeña to negotiate for the City Government with any interested and qualified parties for the lease or joint venture agreements on any SRP lot.
During their session, the council resolved to dispose by sale through public bidding Lot 1-A or a portion of the lot, which has a total land area of 31.9189 hectares.
All lots inside the 290-hectare facility are considered prime properties and were developed to cater to investments in commercial, industrial, information technology and related businesses.
“To maximize and efficiently market the properties, the city chief executive needs to reach out to the local, national and international business communities. And to do that, the mayor needs to be clothed with the authority to negotiate and enter into agreements and contract with investors,” the council said.
Councilor Jose Daluz III, chairman of the council committee on budget and finance, clarified that only Lot 1-A is up for bidding, but the mayor may start negotiating for the lease or sale of other lots inside the SRP.
“We are selling only one property for now, only the 31.91-hectare lot, but we are already giving authority to the mayor to negotiate in behalf of the City for the sale or lease of the other lots,” he told his colleagues yesterday.
Osmeña earlier said the City will start bidding procedures after the fencing of the Barangay Mambaling side of the SRP and the construction of some interior roads.
He hopes to finalize the sale before the year ends, for City Hall to earn some P2 billion to P4 billion from the 32-hectare lot.
Commercial developers SM Prime Holdings Inc., the Gokongwei Group, Ayala Corp. and Filinvest Land earlier expressed their intention to buy lots at the SRP, and are expected to join the bidding later this year.
Last February, the City entered into a lease agreement with Bigfoot Global Solutions, which is also interested to buy other lots in the SRP.
Ten years after the 12.292-billion yen loan (P5.958 billion as of August 2006) was made to fund the SRP, the City has so far earned only P25 million from the facility.
The amount is Bigfoot’s advance payment for the 25-year lease on two hectares of the SRP. (LCR)
