Saturday, July 26, 2008 Talk back: Reviving the Megadome Project By Art Cañares
SPORTS and entertainment entrepreneurs cheered when Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia disclosed that the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) earned P32 million.
What makes it quite phenomenal is that the CICC did it in less than two years of operation and in the middle of political bickering, not to mention the attendant legal and technical hassles.
This feat, however, was downplayed by a critic who claimed that the Province of Cebu is not actually debt-free, and is in fact facing a P261 million suit against a disgruntled contractor.
True or not, the P261 million suit is not our staple here, it is the capability of the CICC to remit an early return of investments (ROIs) amid, gloomy speculations, which is truly commendable and newsworthy. This feat would lead us to believe that the profitability of such venture may also be tangible to future government projects of the same magnitude.
The CICC is an accidental product of the original design that was the Megadome. It is needless to argue that the Megadome was the bigger and the better project. If the CICC could fetch P32 million in less than two years, there is no reason the Megadome can’t since the latter could attract greater patronage from the sports and entertainment sectors.
This procedure is one reason big enough to revive the mothballed project.
The CICC has paved the way for the Provincial Board (PB) to take another look into it. Common sense will tell the PB not to put the goose that lays the golden eggs in a state of suspended animation too long.
But can the Province afford to build the Megadome? Yes, because the provincial treasury has the liquidity or dispensable cash equivalent of P1.2 billion, excluding the Internal Revenue Allotment shares of P104,751,175.00 per month. And yes, because the Provincial Government, in its corporate capacity, can engage in business venture, with the private sector where the much needed capital investments lie.
