South Road Properties to Start Earning in 2007 (Nov 2006)

Cebu Daily News
Wednesday, 29 November 2006

The Cebu City government will start earning from the reclaimed South Road Properties (SRP) next year as some investors are expected to start constructing their facilities, according to Cebu Investment Promotion Center Joel Mari Yu.

"I would like to believe that in the first half of next year, we will see actual structures coming up," Yu said.

He said negotiations with some investors were in the final stages.

University of Cebu president Augusto Go planned to build a high-end trade high school on a 2-hectare lot across the school's campus, Yu said.

The city government and God had been talking for the leas of the area with an option to purchase, he added.

Another investor, Bigfoot wants to start constructing sound stages and a marina commercial complex. The 15 hectares for the project and another 2-hectares for the marina-commercial complex.

Yu said Bigfoot planned to purchase outright the two hectares and lease, with an option to buy, the 15 hectares.

Bigfoot also plans to build a 15-story condominium also on the two-hectare area, he said.

"The sound stage project is also their (Bigfoot's) immediate priority. They want to build four sound stages as fast as possible," Yu said.

The city government also plans to go into joint venture projects with two major real estate developers - Filinvest Land Inc. and Sta. Lucia Realty and Development Inc.

The city goverment and the Filinvest had been finalizing legal documents for a restaurant commercial complex that would be built in the vicinity of the Kawit area.

"We are also negotiating terms with Sta. Lucia. They asked for 70 hectares but we cut in half. We allow them to proceed with about 30 or 35 hectares," Yu said.

Sta. Lucia proposed a scheme of sharing with Cebu City, he added.

The city was also finalizing an agreement with the Cardiovascular Hospitals of America, which wanted to set up a medical facility at the SRP, he said.

There were pending negotiations for 12 hectares with Taiwanese businessman Paul Yu, who was awaiting the completion of the access road, Yu said. There were also three investors ready to come in upon the completion of the road, said Yu.

He said the bulk of the city's earnings from the SRP would come from its share of the utility sales, such as power and water.

"Land leases would account for not more than 35 percent (of the SRP revenues). More than 50 percent of the revenue will come from our shares of power sales and the balance from our share of the water sales and other utility sales," Yu said.

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City Council Approves Construction of Signage (Nov 2006)

The Freeman 11/23/2006
The City Council yesterday approved a budget of at least P8.274 million for the construction of the "Welcome Hill" signage at the Cebu South Road Properties. 

This after the Bids and Awards Committee of the city government awarded the signage's construction to the lowest bidder, the Ana Construction. 
Under the terms and conditions, the contractor will also provide facilities inside the SRP for disabled persons such as ramps. 

Mayor Tomas Osmeña earlier said the 296-hectare SRP would have recreational parks and retirement villages. 

But the city government, however, has yet to close a deal with those interested in putting up retirement facilities at the SRP. - Garry B. Lao

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Firm Pans to Build Restaurants at SRP Seawall (Nov 2006)

By Doris C. Bongcac
Cebu Daily News
Last updated 01:56pm (Mla time) 11/16/2006


RESTAURANTS and entertainment joints will soon be a fixture at the Cebu City's South Road Properties if an investment company will push through with its planned P200-million infrastructure project.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday said he met with representatives of Filinvest Land Inc. in Manila to finalize the layout of the company's planned construction of 18 food and liquor stalls in a portion of the seawall of the SRP.

“Filinvest is planning to construct three structures. That will be considered a fun thing, something that will show that the SRP is a highly desirable area. The in place in Cebu,” he said.

The mayor has long envisioned the operation of restaurants and entertainment joints at the SRP.
He said in an earlier interview that Cebu's lack of an entertainment strip is one of the downside in its marketing campaign to attract tourists.

Osmeña said entertainment joints located away from each other is not very attractive to partygoers.

Filinvest is designing seaside stalls that will be leased to restaurant and restobar operators who wanted to open businesses at the SRP, Osmeña yesterday told Cebu Daily News.

Various entrepreneurs, Osmeña said, have already inquired of stall rentals.

Osmeña, however, said that before construction will begin, he wanted to clarify with Filinvest how the city government will be compensated from their construction project.

“There are some legal questions that we have to consider,” he said.

The city government, he said, may lease to Filinvest the portion of the SRP that they need for the construction project. An option is for the investment company and the city government to agree on a sharing scheme.

Under the sharing scheme, a certain percentage of the stall rentals that Filinvest will collect will go to the city's coffers, Osmeña said.

“If the operation of the stalls will be successful, this will be a source of income for the city government. I'm willing to put the city to risk in doing business (with Filinvest),” the mayor said.

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Osmeña to Ink Pact with CIPC on SRP Promotion (Nov 2006)

The Freeman 11/12/2006

The City Council has authorized Mayor Tomas Osmeña to enter into a memorandum of agreement with Cebu Investment Promotions Center (CIPC) to promote the 295-hectare South Road Properties as investment destination for both local and international investors.

In her proposed resolution, Majority Floor Leader Jocelyn Pesquera said the city government needs to tap the CIPC to handle the promotion and marketing of SRP. She said that in return, the city would pay CIPC P4,586,916.
The CIPC is a foundation whose primary purpose is to promote investment in the region.

The SRP, which is registered with Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) as a special economic zone, is now in its final stages of completion. Designed for mixed land use, it can easily accommodate manufacturing, commercial, tourism and information technology service enterprises.

Unlike the North Reclamation Project and the Mandaue City Reclamation Project, the SRP is no longer entirely devoted to manufacturing and export processing.

Since CIPC has been marketing the SRP as a prime mixed land use development project, it will be sub-zoned to accommodate investments in light manufacturing, tourism, information technology and other service enterprises.

In August 1995, the city government availed of the official development assistance loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation worth 12.3 billion yen to finance the SRP.

The SRP was then declared a special economic zone through Presidential Proclamation No. 763 issued on January 20, 2005, four years after the completion of the reclamation works in 2000. - Garry B. Lao/LPM

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Mayor Eyes Transport System for Call Center Companies (OCT 2006)

By Doris C. Bongcac
Cebu Daily News
Last updated 02:51pm (Mla time) 10/27/2006

CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña plans to develop a transportation system for call center firms that will relocate at the South Road Properties (SRP).

Osmeña wants the system to be tested first on a call center firm in barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City.
If successful, the system would be be adopted by other call centers that would wish to relocate to the SRP, he said.

“Many call centers are interested in coming to the SRP but we want to put up a transportation system first,” he said.

Because he would not allow the entry of public utility vehicles into the SRP, Osmeña said, the city government has to design a transportation system for those who would be working in the area.

“We are adjusting to their needs, we are not asking them to adjust to us,” the mayor said.

To test his plan on the operation a government-run transportation system, Osmeña said, he would assign a Kaoshiung bus to pick up employees of Convergys in barangay Guadalupe and bring them to and from their workplaces, especially late at night.

Osmeña said the company would be made to pay for the use of the city-owned bus and the services of a detailed driver.

The mayor said he wanted to detail a member of the Barangay Intelligence Network (BIN), like those deployed to help secure government offices, as bus driver.

The transportation system, he said, would later be imitated for call centers and other industries that would soon be established at the SRP, he said.

The SRP, he said, is designed as an economic zone that would cater mostly to export producing industries that would bring dollars to Cebu City.

Call centers, Osmeña said, are also exporting services to foreign countries and could be accommodated at the SRP.

Employees from these call centers are also prospective clients for at least 18 restaurants that he would wish to occupy an area near the seawall and a man-made white sand beach at the SRP.

Osmeña said he also plans to invite an educational institution that would offer courses for a masters degree to call center employees “for their human resource development”.

“Our problem here is that many of the call centers are unable to recruit college students because they are perceived as a dead-end job”.

Even employees of the mayor's management team, who are only paid P10,000monthly have refused to work in call centers because of their quest for a more challenging job, Osmeña said.

The presence of an educational institution at the SRP is expected to help correct misconceptions on call center jobs.

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