City to earn P2B from Singaporean (May 2006)
firm locating at SRP
Published: 05 May 2006
CDN
A SINGAPOREAN firm engaged in the manufacture of 20-footer container vans is putting up a manufacturing plant in a portion of the 300-hectare South Reclamation Project (SRP), Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday said.
Ferdinand Robert of Filritc Corp. of Singapore visited City Hall yesterday to meet with Osmeña.
The company that Robert represents is the first foreign locator that is scheduled to close a deal with the city government for the purchase of a 20-hectare property at the SRP for P2 billion, the mayor said.
The Singaporean firm, he said, is set to produce 40,000 units of 20-footer container vans in a year's operation of its fully automated container yard, the first in the world.
"I can't say no to them because they are paying us in cash," he said.
Osmeña said that while he wanted to open the SRP to job-generating businesses, he agreed to the Singaporean firm's offer to pay in cash.
"It is our policy that the SRP is not for profit but for what good it will do to Cebu. But the first sale is really for profit because we need cash for the utang (city's debt)," the mayor said.
Osmeña said that while only very few Cebuanos may be employed by the firm, the city would have more than enough money to pay off its local counterpart to the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
A portion of the sales may also be used for development programs to increase the marketability of the reclamation project.
"A major portion will go to the needs of the city. We have to realize that we cannot just bleed the project to death (to earn revenues)," he said.
Osmeña said he wanted to fund development projects at the SRP.
This includes the establishment of interior roads, the completion of the senior citizen's building, and the construction of a lighthouse and recreational facilities, including a football field and picnic grounds.
He also wanted to put up a prototype of a white sand beach in Pond F to improve its marketability.
Cebu City has been luring foreign investors to the SRP to raise funds to pay its loans, majority of which come from the JBIC to develop the SRP.
The city is scheduled to pay P655.88 million for the SRP in 2006.
Published: 05 May 2006
CDN
A SINGAPOREAN firm engaged in the manufacture of 20-footer container vans is putting up a manufacturing plant in a portion of the 300-hectare South Reclamation Project (SRP), Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday said.
Ferdinand Robert of Filritc Corp. of Singapore visited City Hall yesterday to meet with Osmeña.
The company that Robert represents is the first foreign locator that is scheduled to close a deal with the city government for the purchase of a 20-hectare property at the SRP for P2 billion, the mayor said.
The Singaporean firm, he said, is set to produce 40,000 units of 20-footer container vans in a year's operation of its fully automated container yard, the first in the world.
"I can't say no to them because they are paying us in cash," he said.
Osmeña said that while he wanted to open the SRP to job-generating businesses, he agreed to the Singaporean firm's offer to pay in cash.
"It is our policy that the SRP is not for profit but for what good it will do to Cebu. But the first sale is really for profit because we need cash for the utang (city's debt)," the mayor said.
Osmeña said that while only very few Cebuanos may be employed by the firm, the city would have more than enough money to pay off its local counterpart to the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
A portion of the sales may also be used for development programs to increase the marketability of the reclamation project.
"A major portion will go to the needs of the city. We have to realize that we cannot just bleed the project to death (to earn revenues)," he said.
Osmeña said he wanted to fund development projects at the SRP.
This includes the establishment of interior roads, the completion of the senior citizen's building, and the construction of a lighthouse and recreational facilities, including a football field and picnic grounds.
He also wanted to put up a prototype of a white sand beach in Pond F to improve its marketability.
Cebu City has been luring foreign investors to the SRP to raise funds to pay its loans, majority of which come from the JBIC to develop the SRP.
The city is scheduled to pay P655.88 million for the SRP in 2006.