Cith Hall seeing 3 firms to market South Road Properties lots

Sun.Star
Thursday, August 16, 2007


MAYOR Tomas Osmeña said the Cebu City is seeing three appraisal companies for the valuation of South Road Properties (SRP) lots, as it is now engaged in “heavy consultation on who will bid out and where” on the sale of a 30-hectare portion of the reclaimed land.

He said the City is selling because of “liquidity requirements” for the next one to two years.

Otherwise, the City does not intend to sell SRP lots, reiterating his policy to instead have locators introduce projects that would generate jobs.

The mayor said prices of SRP lots are not expected to go down so that those interested must take advantage as “this is a good time to make a deal,” when the City is in need of money to pay its foreign loan.

Defense

Also, the mayor justified the spending of millions of pesos for the SRP welcome signage, saying there is no reason for one to spend on a “nice doormat” worth a few millions pesos when he is selling a multi-million property.

“It is like giving a gift. You spend a little money to put a ribbon, and a wrapper,” he said.

The sign is part of the promotion of the SRP.

To be constructed at the welcome hill leading to the SRP, the sign will be three stories high and will be made of welded aluminum pipes. It is also designed to withstand storms up to signal number five.

The words “South Road Properties” will be spelled out similar to the “Hollywood” welcome sign, and will include the SRP emblem.

Cheap

Last Monday, Osmeña said the welcome sign is the cheap part of the project and that P20 million will be spent to construct a tower beside the sign.

The tower would be built because he did not want a mere water tank to be built near the welcome sign.

A project concept pinned on the wall of his office showed the giant welcome signage with the tank on one side; only that the tank looks like a castle tower complete with battlements.

He said spending for the signage and the tank is similar to parents exhausting their funds to send their children to school.

Although considered extravagant at first light, it really plays an important part in marketing the SRP, he added. (RHM)