CIPC: SRP management body underway

CEBU, Philippines - South Road Properties (SRP) will soon install a Project Management Authority, and this idea is not new, as stressed by the Cebu Investments and Promotions Center (CIPC).

CIPC managing director Joel Mari S. Yu made this pronouncement following the statement made by opposition leaders Jonathan Guardo and Mary Ann de los Santos that SRP should be managed by an overseeing body like a management authority in order to have transparency in any transaction.

Yu said that the Mayor has already understood that the City-owned zone should have a project management agency, “We know that already, but it’s only a matter of time when the project management authority will be installed.”

CIPC is commissioned by the Cebu City government to promote the 300-hectare SRP, which is considered as the largest revenue generator of the City in the next few years, making Cebu City as the wealthiest LGU in the Philippines.

“It will come,” Yu said referring to the installment of a project management authority.

According to Guardo and de los Santos, a professional project management Authority should be installed in order for SRP to take off, and pursue transparent negotiations with investors, thereby contributing actual revenue to the City.

They said that because of the existing conflicts of the current Cebu City government with other Local Government Units (LGUs), the City has lost significant revenue generation.

SRP could have generated actual revenue for the City, if not of the current political conflict with other local government units (LGUs).

On the other hand, despite the unending controversies attacking the Cebu City developed South Road Properties (SRP), real estate giant Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) has vowed to pursue with its P25 billion project at the area.

FLI vice president for the Visayas and Mindanao Tristan Las Marias earlier said that the company intends to break grounds at the SRP project early next year.

By year-end, FLI targets to finish the master-plan for the entire 40-hectare lot that is covered by its joint venture with the Cebu City government.

The multi-residential development, he said will give Cebu City another landmark that will have an international flavor, as well as attract the local investors.

Under the contract of the FLI-Cebu City joint venture, the development master plan for the property is to be approved by the City Council within 10 to 12 months after the contract signing last February.

He said Filinvest has commissioned the services of foreign consultants and international master planners for the development design.

“We want the development to have an international flavor to sell it not just locally but also internationally,” said Las Marias.

As of this point, FLI has not committed a name for the project yet, he said adding that as per the company’s commitment to the City Council, the development will be mainly multi-residential type with medium rise buildings, condominium units.