Saturday, October 04, 2008 P60M set aside for projects, out of P463M
CEBU City’s children will directly benefit from Robinsons Land Corp.’s purchase of a north reclamation area (NRA) lot, while senior citizens will have to wait for a sale of the South Road Properties (SRP).
The bulk of the P463.45-million payment from Robinsons Land will be used to pay for the SRP loan in February next year, but an amount was spared for the Community Scouts Youth Rehabilitation Center (CSYRC).
The CSYRC is a rehabilitation facility for out-of-school youth and children who are in contact with the law.
City Administrator Francisco Fernandez explained the amount was already part of the City’s realized income for the year and was included in the budget, but a portion of it has not been disbursed yet.
Some P350 million will be set aside for the SRP loan payments next year, and around P60 million in savings can be used for other projects.
In his news conference yesterday, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said P14 million will be spent for the construction of the CSYRC building in Barangay San Nicolas.
CSYRC is just one of the City Government agencies and offices at the City Hall Block 10 property at the NRA that had to be relocated after Robinsons Land bought the 4.6-hectare lot in 2006.
City officials received the final payment for the property just last Thursday, or two years after Robinsons and the City Government signed the contract to sell.
“We will fund the Community Scouts building in San Nicolas using the sale proceeds, the other pending projects will just have to be reviewed so we will know which will be prioritized,” Osmeña said yesterday.
The P2,000 Christmas and birthday cash gifts for senior citizens, however, will have to wait until the City can sell a lot at the SRP.
But this does not mean they will spend Christmas without anything from City Hall.
“What we will do is give them some packages for this year. We don’t know yet but maybe P200 worth of bundles of joy. We’ll just think of something.
But when the SRP starts earning, they will get the cash gifts,” the mayor added. (LCR)
