Kawit Island dev’t to proceed – Tom

CEBU, Philippines — Since the Cebu City government did not receive other proposals to challenge the P18-billion development at the South Road Properties (SRP), Mayor Tomas Osmeña said the executive department will process the submission of the contract to the City Council for its approval.

The mayor said he could not afford to delay the approval of the project as it would generate more investments for the city.

“It’s supposed to be submitted to the council anytime now for their approval. The bidding has been unchallenged. There was one or two others that inquired about it, but did not push through. I think it’s going to push through,” he told reporters.

The deadline for the submission of Expressions of Interest (EOIs) from Private Sector Proponents (PSPs) to contest the proposal of Universal Hotels and Resorts Incorporated (UHRI) was last February 14.

UHRI proposed to lease the eight-hectare lot on Kawit Island at the SRP to build a hotel, restaurant, casino, convention center, yacht club, waterpark, among other world-class facilities.

Osmeña said he would have wanted to wait for the submission of proposals of other interested parties but he thinks he is not allowed to do so.

“I just want competition. I’m in favor of competition since there’s no one’s interested napod, we’ll just push through with this.  The advantage of the Kawit Island project is that it’s a traffic generator,” he added.

Osmeña said Cebu has been the “favorite” place for conventions for local and foreign tourists.

He vowed to focus on the implementation of the major projects in the city.

Once the deal with UHRI will be closed, the mayor said the city will push through with the sale of the three-hectare lot at the SRP.

The City Council has already allowed Osmeña to dispose SRP’s Lot 1-F-8-A with an area of 25,769 square meters and Lot 1-H-1 with an area of 3,349 square meters located at Pond F.

The city will be selling the area at P110,000 per square meter or P3.3 billion for the entire property but Osmeña believed that the value will increase once the development at the SRP will start.

He added that the ongoing construction of the Cebu-Cordova bridge will also increase the value of properties in the area.

“I’m very optimistic that we are going to improve and there are many investors inquiring in Cebu including foreign investors,” he said. (FREEMAN)