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CEBU
CITY—The city government has formally accepted the
unsolicited offer of Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) for a
joint-venture development of 50 hectares of the
reclaimed South Road Properties (SRP).
The
offer, which could earn the city P2 billion in outright
land sale proceeds and a hefty profit share for all of
Filinvest’s projects, is the first wholesale development
bid for the 240-hectare reclamation project completed in
2001.
The
project could bring in as much as P80 billion worth of
development in the property in the long term, FLI vice
president for Visayas and Mindanao Tristan las Marias
said.
“As soon
as the proposal is cleared we are ready to immediately
build five to eight medium-rise buildings,” las Marias
said.
He said
Filinvest plans to build more high-rise projects for
leisure, retirement, medical tourism and corporate
headquarters.
Las
Marias was with FLI vice chairman Andrew Gotianun Jr.
when they formally presented their proposal Thursday
night.
The bid
is set for ratification by the Cebu City Council and for
a public challenge.
“We
will open this bid for challengers but they
[challengers] would have to be qualified and of the same
stature as Filinvest. We won’t allow a company from
Samar to come in and say they can build this project,”
Mayor Tomas Osmeña said.
Vice
Mayor Michael Rama said the offer was “very attractive,”
but that the city council will still have to look at the
details of the proposal.
Mayor
Osmeña hopes to sign the contract with FLI by the end of
the year so construction could already start.
FLI is
bidding for SRP’s seafront property near the boundary
with Talisay City and a large portion of inland lots.
Las
Marias said the seafront property will become the
showcase of the whole area.
“This
will be the only central business district that is
beside the sea, so this will surely be very attractive
for multinational companies.”
FLI is
proposing to buy 10 hectares of land in the SRP at a
“Commission on Audit-approved price” of P15,000 per
square meter.
The rest
of the development will be pegged on two schemes of
profit sharing—one based on price plus a premium; and
the other, on 10-percent gross share for the city,
whichever is higher.
“The
city is on a very good position because we get a share
in everything they earn,” Mayor Osmeña said.
Joel
Mari Yu of the Cebu Investments and Promotions Center
said the proposal took four years to create since the
city was very particular about the details of
development at the SRP.
He said
other wholesale proposals at the SRP “are being
processed.”
The SRP
was built by a loan obtained by the Cebu City government
with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. The
city will be paying for the loan until 2020. |
