Tom to add ‘cute’ features on South Road Properties welcome signage

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Mayor Tomas Osmeña has boasted that the welcome signage erected at the South Road Properties will become a model of strength for billboards and signages in the city, and a landmark that would become a tourist attraction.

The mayor disclosed the other day that he has planned “something cute” for the welcome sign at a hill of the 295-hectare SRP.

The signage, built at a cost of at least P6 million, is already almost complete, Osmeña said as he mentioned that the “cute” addendum to the structure would be statues of children climbing and playing to portray the SRP as one dedicated to the children who are the city’s future.

Osmeña said that at least four to five statues of children would be placed on the signage, or “enough to be noticed”, and they would be made to appear playing like climbing the steel bars, sitting and waving to passers-by.

Some modification on the signage would be done to accomplish this added design, said the mayor.

The welcome signage, a three-storey high structure made of aluminum pipes, would have the title “South Road Properties” spelled out similar to the famous “Hollywood” welcome sign.

This structure is not an ordinary one, Osmeña said adding that it has been built to withstand even the strongest typhoon. This is the reason why the project, which would also promote the SRP, is very expensive, he said.

The welcome sign is just part of the bigger plan, the mayor said citing another plan to build a large water tank that would appear like a tower standing beside the signage.

He said the giant water tank can hold a maximum of 10 million liters of water from the wells of the SRP. This tower will also have coffee shops and bars whose lights would become a nightly attraction from afar.

Osmeña said the entire “welcome” project would cost P20 million, an amount that he insisted is “not foolishness” but a bold promotion of the SRP.

Once the structure is finished, it would become a city landmark that would attrack local and foreign tourists, he said.

The mayor added that the city would have to wait until the first sale of SRP lots is finalized. The city will bid soon the 30-hectare block of the SRP at the Mambaling side.

Osmeña earlier said that there are at least three companies interested to buy the part of the property. — Wenna A. Berondo/RAE