Tuesday, August 19, 2008 CH seeks technical aid for work on SRP utilities
CEBU City Hall is seeking assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the development of the South Road Properties’ (SRP) utilities, including transportation, water and power supply.
The City Council has authorized Mayor Tomas Osmeña to negotiate for technical assistance with the ADB through its Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA).
Among other things, the technical assistance will cover studies for the water supply, power generation and distribution, transportation, waste management and the district cooling system.
Depending on the outcome of the studies, the ADB may later provide funding for certain projects, City Planning and Development Coordinator Nigel Paul Villarete said.
(Measure)
In his resolution, Councilor Nestor Archival said the mayor sought assistance from ADB for project development and financial structuring of the SRP after a series of consultations with its officials.
He asked his colleagues in the council to authorize the mayor to negotiate with the ADB, which the council approved during their session last Wednesday.
“These will be technical studies for the utilities, including studies on the costing and what kind of projects to undertake. This is something new because they will already look at projects that they can fund,” Villarete told Sun.Star Cebu.
The ADB will shoulder the cost for the technical studies while the City Government will have non-monetary counterpart.
According to the resolution, the CDIA support will come in two phases, the first one being the investment prioritization plan and associated organizational structure for the development of the SRP.
Activities
The second phase will be the conduct of pre-feasibility studies for selected infrastructure, assistance in investment planning and identification of suitable finance, and capacity development for the local implementing agencies.
The training of the staff and setting up of organizational systems for better response to urban environmental needs will also be covered.
As its local logistics equity in the project, the City will provide counterpart human resource, office space, utilities and equipment.
Osmeña is looking at a bus rapid transit (BRT) system for the SRP, as well as a district cooling system for all locators there.
The mayor believes that both will increase the marketability of the 290-hectare facility, parcels of which will be up for bidding anytime soon.
“I’m just waiting for the draft of the terms and conditions of the bidding. Our lawyers are still working on it but we will be ready with it soon,” the mayor told a news conference last Friday. (LCR)
