SRP lot sale

City plans to sell portion of Pond F in SRP; paperworks under way, says official

City Legal Chief Bernaldez says selling process still has to go through City Council for approval

CEBU City Hall plans to sell a lot at the South Road Properties (SRP) and works are already underway for it. In an interview yesterday, City Legal Office Chief Joseph Bernaldez said Mayor Tomas Osmeña is eyeing the sale of a portion in Pond F.

He said he was already instructed by the mayor to draft and formulate the terms of reference for the transaction and to study how much really is the price of the lots at the 300-ha. property.

“As of now, we already have the 60 per- cent of the needed work for the terms of reference. Once we’re done with the details, that will be the time that we submit it to the mayor so he can scrutinize it for approval,” he said.

As to how big the property the mayor is planning is to sell, Bernaldez said he has no idea yet.

Intention

Osmeña had already disclosed a few days after winning the May 9 elections that he wants the City to sell 1.5-has. of land at Pond F just to generate revenues for the City.

The disposal of the said lot, he said, is also to show the public how much the SRP is worth now. He had pegged the value of the properties there at P1 billion per hectare.

But just like in the previous disposal of the SRP lots, Bernaldez said the transaction will still have to go through the City Council, which is now dominated by Team Rama councilors, for approval.

He added the lots will be sold through public bidding.

If the City already has prospective buyers on the Pond F property, Bernaldez said he is not privy to the details.

Osmeña, who just came back from his family trip to Japan yesterday, did not grant interviews to the media yet.

Asked about this development, former Cebu Investments Promotion Center (CIPC) head Joel Mari Yu said yesterday he had no idea so far on the plans of the mayor to sell a portion of the SRP.

Osmeña had previously announced he will hire Yu back as consultant of the SRP and to manage its office.

No directive yet

Bernaldez said they have not started the work yet on the earlier plan of Osmeña to revoke the sale of the 45.2-ha. lot in SRP last year, a transaction made during the time of former mayor Michael Rama.

“Wa pa gyuy konkreto na direktiba ang mayor nga nag-ingon sugdan nang butanga (There is no concrete directive yet from the mayor that mentions it). Nakabalita ra mi ana nga (We just heard of the) plan but we have not received any orders yet,” he said.

Osmeña had said in May he wants the sale revoked because it is anomalous since there was a “monopoly” during the bidding.

The developers allegedly agreed on what property to buy.

Of the 45.2-ha. lot that was bidded out in June 2015, 26 has. were bought by the consortium of Ayala Land-Cebu Holdings Inc. and SM Prime Holdings Inc. while the 19.2 has. were bought by Filinvest Land Inc.

These companies bought the land for P35,000 to P38,000 per square meter. The sale was closed for P16.76 billion.

In August, the City already received 50 percent downpayment from the three developers, which amounted to P8.35 billion. The remaining half is supposed to be payable in three years, starting August this year.