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Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Recla project eats up 17% of supplemental budget
By Gingging A. Campaña
CEBU CITY -- The Cebu City Government will set aside some P21.5 million to pay for the interest and part of the principal of the South Reclamation Project (SRP) loan.
The amount forms part of this year's proposed second supplemental budget, which totaled P127.97 million, that the City Council will tackle Wednesday.
Of the loan payment, P14.5 million goes to the interest alone. The P7.068 million will pay for a portion of the SRP loan, released by the Land Bank of the Philippines.
City Hall has to use its own funds to pay for the loan it had availed itself of from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), as it has yet to receive investments for the SRP.
The City is unable to market the SRP lots, as it has yet to get a title for the reclaimed land.
The City used 12.291 billion yen from JBIC to construct the SRP. Last Feb. 20, City Hall paid 288,389,482 yen for the interest alone.
By August this year, City Hall is due to pay over P300 million for the principal.
Also on Wednesday, SRP manager Nigel Paul Villarete is asking the City Council to authorize Mayor Tomas Osmeña to register with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) the business name of the SRP, which will now stand for South Road Properties.
Villarete's request will be contained in a draft resolution written by Councilor Gabriel Leyson.
Priorities
The loan payment accounts for some 17 percent of the proposed supplemental budget.
Some P26.27 million will be used for the salaries of casual employees, as well as the cash gifts and year-end bonuses of all employees.
The biggest portion will be allocated for the P41.83-million Local Development Fund (LDF).
The LDF includes:
* the P15-million gender and development program;
* P2.11 million in financial assistance for the University of San Carlos architecture department, which is already accredited as a non-government organization; and
* P17 million for the construction of a proposed school building in Barangay Ermita.
The finance management committee has identified P35.41 million from the Internal Revenue Allotment share and garbage fees, and P27.216 million in unused appropriations as sources of funds.
The City Accounting Office and the City Engineering Office have certified as source the unreleased appropriations for projects "that will no longer be pursued." This amounted to P13.07 million.
As to the LDF, the account still has an unused budget of P17.35 million for the capital outlay last Feb. 23 and an unused P18 million.
The P18 million was supposed to be for the purchase of a school site in Barangay Ermita, grouted riprap for Lusaran and basketball courts for Sitios Sepak, Tabla, Bitlang and Sangi, Barangay Sudlon 1. (Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)
(June 22, 2005 issue)
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