Tuesday, September 23, 2008 Tomas to open bid of firm to public
AFTER more than a year of discussions with the mayor, Filinvest Land Inc. will present to Cebu City officials this Thursday their proposal to buy and develop a “big” portion of the South Road Properties (SRP).
Mayor Tomas Osmeña invited the City Council and City Hall reporters to witness the formal presentation of Filinvest Land at Casino Español de Cebu to promote transparency on transactions involving the SRP.
“This is a formal presentation of their proposal and I want to submit it to everybody. I just want it to be transparent,” he said, adding that he will not bother inviting SRP’s critics to the occasion.
Osmeña said he already knows the details of the offer of Filinvest and he does not expect to have objections to it.
The mayor declined from disclosing the size of the lot and the area of the SRP that Filinvest is interested in, but said that the area is “big.”
Outright purchase
Filinvest, he said, is interested in an outright purchase of an SRP lot and a development project on other lots under a joint venture agreement.
“We had all kinds of discussion and I already have an idea of what they are going to present…whatever the proposal is, it’s not final yet. This one is what I think will be
consistent with what we have discussed about the SRP,” he told reporters.
In his news conference yesterday, Osmeña said he is agreeable to the offer of Filinvest but has not committed to anything yet.
No objections
“I don’t think I will have any more objections because I already have a very clear idea of what they will present. Unless they will insert some fine prints there, I’m very confident I won’t have any objections. I’ve seen the proposal, there will be an outright sale and a joint venture component,” he continued.
Last week, the council approved the ordinance prescribing the guidelines for a joint venture agreement involving SRP lots.
Among other things, the ordinance specifies that each of the contracts relative to the sale of SRP lots that the mayor will enter into will have to pass through the council for review and ratification. (LCR)
