Developer eyes 10 hectares for medical tourism facility (South Road Properties)

Sun Star Online
Wednesday, October 15, 2008

CEBU City Hall is preparing to hold an open bidding for a 10-hectare portion of the South Road Properties (SRP) possibly next week, after a buyer presented an offer to buy a lot for a medical tourism facility.

Cebu Investment and Promotion Center (CIPC) managing director Joel Mari Yu said the Manila-based developer intends to put up a big and high-end hospital that will cater to foreigners, tourists and expatriates.

The 10-hectare lot will earn for the City at least P900 million, with a minimum floor price of P11,000 per square meter for the lots beside the road and P8,000 per square meter for the interior portion.

Yu said that one-third of the property, worth P370 million, is beside the road and the remaining two-thirds, worth some P540 million, are interior lots.

“The buyer wants to purchase 10 hectares of land right away for a high-end medical tourism facility. So we will just declare it for sale then put it up for open bidding, meaning it’s an outright sale and anyone who is interested can bid,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.

The winning bidder, though, will have to follow certain restrictions on what they can use the property for.

Yu said the restrictions will be included in the bid of restrictions, which will be part of the bidding documents, and will specify what the buyer can and cannot do with the lot.

“We are currently surveying the property and we expect to finish the survey at the end of the week. If the city administrator can get all the documents together, we can publish the bidding announcement next week,” he continued.

City Administrator Francisco Fernandez said the details of the bidding and the sale will be discussed during a press conference today.

Yu of CIPC, the marketing arm of the SRP, said the survey being conducted will delineate the property and set the boundaries of the 10-hectare portion, which is near the 50-hectare property that Filinvest Land Inc. wants to develop.

The CIPC and Mayor-on-leave Tomas Osmeña have been negotiating with the buyer for a year already.

If the interested buyer wins in the bidding and constructs the hospital, Yu said that no other developer will be allowed to put up a similar facility.

“We made sure that the developers will complement and not compete with each other...In the bid of restrictions, we will make it very clear that only certain activities will be allowed in the area. No motels and used car dealership will be allowed, and they can’t subdivide and resell the lots,” he added. (LCR)