City urged: Firm up plan for South Road Properties’ infra, utilities
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Linette C. Ramos
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
FOREIGN consultants recommended yesterday the creation of concrete plans for utilities and infrastructure at the South Road Properties (SRP), before the Cebu City Government sells or develops other areas of the 302-hectare facility.
Consultants of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are concerned about the development of SRP lots into commercial, recreational, medical and condominium complexes even before a defined plan on roads, transportation and other utilities are laid down.
John Olof Vinterhav said, though, that he does not see a need for a moratorium on the sale and negotiations involving SRP lots, since their study will be completed in a year’s time.
A team of around 15 foreign and local ADB consultants led by Vinterhav started yesterday the project development for the Cities Development Initiative for Asia’s (CDIA) Priority Infrastructure Investment Plan (PIIP) for the SRP.
They will study the appropriate public transportation and road network, water supply and wastewater treatment, solid waste management and disposal, district cooling and power distribution.
Vinterhav said that as a consultant providing technical assistance, he would have preferred that they made the study on the utilities and infrastructure needed at the SRP before any development started.
Bigfoot Entertainment has already constructed and started operations in their three-hectare leased property. Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) is also planning to develop a 50.6-hectare area, which will be bid out later this month.
“There is no need for a moratorium because we were told that there will be no sale in the next six months. We would have preferred that the FLI proposal didn’t come but it’s there already. Anyway it’s possible to do a planning even if the FLI offer is finalized,” he told reporters yesterday.
The consultants raised their concerns during the PIIP visioning and scoping workshop at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel, which city officials and Cebu Investment Promotions Center (CIPC) Managing Director Joel Mari Yu also attended.
“If I were the one to decide, I would say don’t close any deal unless you can safeguard that there is flexibility, that the City can get back a piece of land that might be needed for utilities. But Cebu City is the owner of the property, they can do whatever they want to do. But as the provider of technical assistance, my advice is for the City to consider our
recommendations before they do anything, that they don’t close any deal before the plans are finalized,” said Vinterhav.
They were specifically concerned about a situation in the future when the City might have to set up bus terminals or a road networks on a property that has already been purchased or developed.
But Yu said the absence of detailed planning on the exact location of utilities and infrastructure does not bother them.
The City will also continue negotiating with SM Prime Holdings, Ayala Land and Pueblo de Oro, and will continue the bidding for the FLI offer.
Yu said that in all of CIPC’s negotiations with interested buyers, he has informed them of the provision in the sale, lease or joint venture contract that will allow the City to buy back any property that will have to be used for utilities and infrastructure.
“If the consultants can define now what area they want to keep for the utilities and infrastructure, it’s very easy to modify the contract. The build-up time is two to three years, we can still change the layout, dili pa madaot ang locator ana,” Yu said.
He also said that the recommendations of the consultants can always be incorporated into the individual master plan of each locator or developer.
“We don’t need to wait for the results of the ADB study. We can just amend the contracts according to the input of ADB that we want to accept from the consultants,” Yu continued.
Also during the workshop yesterday, Yu said the SRP was funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 1995 to be developed into an export zone for light manufacturing companies.
But because of the manufacturing firms’ preference for Vietnam and China over Cebu, they shifted into a mixed land use development.
He said, though, that the City and the CIPC, the marketing arm of the SRP, will still set aside some 50 hectares for light manufacturing companies.
Other developments in the SRP are the high-end retirement facility, medical tourism facility, University of the Philippines’ graduate school program, a stadium or exhibition center, mall, recreation facilities, a promenade, a marina and high-end condominiums.
In a teleconference during the workshop, Mayor-on-leave Tomas Osmeña said he envisioned the SRP not just as a revenue-generating project, but one that will create jobs, and bring in tourists, expatriates and corporate headquarters to Cebu.
“There are many possibilities for the SRP but one thing I don’t like it to be is a real estate business. Cebuanos want something more, something better. Hopefully, the time will come when we will be able to bring in corporate headquarters to the SRP,” he told the participants.
Osmeña had just arrived at his rented apartment in Houston, Texas from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, where he completed the second cycle of his chemotherapy, when he addressed the consultants and city officials.