Don’t Tie Down South Road Properties to Master Plan: Tomas

Saturday, December 13, 2008

CEBU City officials and the marketing arm of the South Road Properties (SRP) assured they will comply with the terms and conditions of the loan agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Acting Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama also assured JICA that the City is “not skirting substantially the original plan for the SRP.”


It’s just that the times have changed and the City is doing the most practical thing, which is to make the SRP profitable for the City to pay its loan obligation.

Cebu Investment Promotions Center (CIPC) Managing Director Joel Mari Yu said they are prepared to allot a portion of the 302-hectare property for light manufacturing firms, which was the original purpose of the SRP before the loan agreement was approved.

Mayor-on-leave Tomas Osmeña also said that even if the SRP has shifted from being purely an export zone for manufacturing companies to a mixed land use project, the developments will create jobs, which is the main objective of the SRP.

“It is demand-driven. We listen to what the locator has in mind and if it’s good for Cebu, we will find a way as soon as possible,” he said in a text message, when asked if the SRP will still have room for manufacturing firms.

External

“Global conditions will dictate the ultimate direction of the SRP. Our first joint venture requires the construction of 875,000 square meters of finished buildings and condominiums. How you can build this without creating jobs means that we will use robots? That’s the first step. The usage of these buildings will not require jobs? Why? Will these buildings be serviced and occupied by robots?” said Osmeña.

Osmeña was reacting to an earlier statement of a JICA official who said that compared to manufacturing firms, hotels and condominiums might employ fewer people after the construction period.

(City Planning and Development Coordinator Nigel Paul Villarete corrected Sun.Star Cebu’s headline yesterday on the JICA official’s statement.

Meanwhile, former Cebu City mayor Alvin Garcia said he expects the offer of Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) to develop a 50.6-hectare portion of the SRP will not materialize, given the lack of a master plan for the project’s use.

In yesterday’s “Tapok-tapok sa Kia” forum, Garcia said he has kept on reminding that the SRP requires a master plan and that such a development framework should not be solely up to the buyer or developer of the reclamation project to decide.

“Now, it’s clear that what they (city officials) did was wrong,” said Garcia.

Still valid

“I think that some people at the City Hall know that a master plan is important. Karon kay wa na man ilang amo, ila na i-implementar…maghimo na gyud og (Now that their boss is away, they are implanting it. They are working on a) master plan.”

In a phone interview yesterday, Yu said the SRP can accommodate manufacturing firms anytime.

Although the SRP was originally intended as an export zone, the demand for factory spaces here has dropped when manufacturing firms decided to transfer to Vietnam and China.

“The original intention is still valid. But in the last three years, not a single foreign direct investment came to Cebu. In the last five years, there was only one. A sizable amount of land at the SRP is still not negotiated, we can allot space for manufacturing firms that might want to locate there. If it has to happen, we are ready for that,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.

Yu and Villarete said the City will also comply with the loan agreement that requires the City to retain ownership of 49 percent of the SRP until it can fully pay for the 12.3-million yen loan made in 1995.

Aside from Filinvest Land Inc.’s (FLI) proposed condominiums and office buildings, Osmeña said that Bigfoot Entertainment’s project is also a high priority because it’s a prestigious industry with “livelihood impact and technology transfer.”

Priorities

Retirement and medical tourism facilities, a 15,000-seater coliseum, corporate headquarters, postgraduate schools and an international yacht club will also be a priority.

“Whatever Jica’s comments are, I challenge JICA and the Philippine Government to show a better Official Development Assistance project than the SRP among hundreds that they funded. I will show the Japanese taxpayers that they did not waste their funds on this. Just their best project in the last 30 years and compare it with the SRP. I promise to defend and win the argument. Hindi tayo mapapahiya,” Osmeña said.

Rama, for his part, said the City is leaning toward having a master plan on how it hopes to develop the property.

The acting mayor also said he could not believe that a JICA official would say that the planned use for the SRP is “not acceptable.” (Editor’s note: He was referring to the headline, not the story’s text.)

“I’m a little bit surprised that there is such a statement attributed to JICA. I wish and I hope that Jica was taken out of context. Dili man ta unmindful unsa’y original plan,” he said.

He said the offer of Filinvest Land Inc. “may not be for massive employment generation, but it has a domino effect on the economy.” (LCR/With GMD & RHM)