THE marketing arm of the South Road Properties (SRP) has assured the three proposed multi-million projects at the 290-hectare reclaimed property will not compete with each other.
Joel Mari Yu, managing director of the Cebu Investments and Promotions Center (CIPC), said the three major investors behind the projects will be occupying a combined area of about 160 hectares at the SRP.
“One will build a mall, the other will build an integrated IT (information technology) complex and another will construct condominiums and a retirement center,” Yu said in a recent interview with reporters.
“They have agreed that … they will not be competing with each other,” he said.
Yu, however, declined to provide details about the three big investors as each are still in negotiations with the Cebu City Government.
Investors
Those who had shown interest in the SRP include: SM Prime Holdings Inc., which plans to build another mall; the Filinvest group, which plans to build a commercial complex; Container Systems Corp., a Singaporean company that will be needing 20 hectares; Taiwanese firm Paul Yu Group of Companies; JY Construction; Arcenas Group; Paknaan Central Development Corp.; Mactan Rock Industries Corp.; King Group of Companies; and the University of Cebu.
Yu earlier said that CIPC has projected the sale of half of the titled reclaimed lots this year or at least 100 hectares, with one to three deals to be closed this June.
He said the CIPC is already in the final stage of negotiations with the three buyers, following the release of a memorandum on the price of the lots.
Yu said each buyer wants to purchase 40 to 50 hectares. Should negotiations “run smoothly and favorably,” work on the proposed projects will begin in the second quarter of this year, he added.
“If the three are approved this year, SRP will be fully occupied in less than five years, maybe even by 2011,” he said.
Achievement
Even if only one of the three proposals is closed this year, he said, this would already be an “achievement” for Cebu City, especially in generating additional income not only from leased and purchased lots but also from commissions on all utility firms that will operate there.
Citing a memorandum from the city mayor’s office, Yu said the price offer for lots at Pond F, which makes up the entire 1.4-kilometer stretch facing the sea, is at least P15,000 per square meter. He added that the whole stretch could easily earn for the City more than P2.5 billion, depending on the winning bid.
Yu said any bidder who offers below P15,000 per square meter for Pond F lots will immediately be disqualified.
“This will be the same for the rest of the lost. That’s why before the end of the year, we expect 50 percent of SRP to be sold,” Yu said.
For lots located within 80 meters on both sides of the South Coastal Road and the Mambaling Access Road, the minimum floor price is at P11,000 per square meter.
All other lots outside Pond F and those along the two main roads are considered non-prime properties and will be sold for a minimum price of P8,000 per square meter or leased for P28 per square meter per month.
Yu said the full development of SRP will bring in an additional 50,000 jobs in the area.
The SRP was funded by a loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. (MMM)
