City eyes condo at Citicenter lot

CEBU, Philippines - If plans do not miscarry, City Hall employees and several urban poor families in Cebu City will soon get a chance to live at the heart of the city.

This as a high-rise condominium is set to be built at the lot now occupied by the Citicenter Commercial Complex at corner Junquera and Sanciangko Sts., Barangay Kamagayan.

The plan is to build a structure that can accommodate 1,000 individual housing units.

Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor Chief Collin Rossell said P100 million is pegged to fund this project as part of the city’s 2012 budget.

“It has always been the Mayor’s (Michael Rama) desire to provide housing to City Hall employees who do not own a house. A high-rise building in the heart of the city is eyed to address the concern of employees who do not enjoy security of tenure,” he said.

Rossell said the project will be offered to interested developers who want to enter a joint venture agreement with the city.

The city government is willing to provide the lot and the market as their share in the JVA while the developer shall build the structure.

“We will provide the lot and the market, they only have to construct the building. At least diri, sure na sila nga naa’y mu-occupy sa building and they will surely be paid since ipaagi man nato ang pagbayad sa employees through Pag-ibig,” Rossell said.

Based on the prevailing market value, each unit of the planned high-rise housing project will cost about P750,000. The building will be at least 10 stories high.

Rossell said he will make sure that the project will not suffer the same fate as the city-owned condominium.

“We will help the eligible employees avail of a loan with Pag-ibig aron makabayad sila sa housing unit. We expect to launch this project before the end of the year so we can start the selection of beneficiaries,” he said.

Rossell said if all goes well, they might be able to start the construction by early next year.

Rossell said they have started profiling the employees because those who are eligible must be able to afford the payment.

Aside from the high-rise building, DWUP also plans to construct at least three medium-rise buildings at the inner portion that will be similar to the three-storey medium-rise building now under construction at the former Lorega-San Miguel Cemetery.

The medium-rise buildings shall benefit the informal settlers occupying the Citicenter and those who will be displaced by the clearing operation in the city’s rivers, creeks and other danger zones.

The entire Citicenter Complex covers an area of 7,281 square meters.

The area was forfeited in favor of the city government after its owner failed to redeem it after a year from the day it was auctioned.

The property was auctioned on December 2003 for P4.3 million to satisfy the tax obligations of the owner, but no one showed interest. The redemption period lapsed on June 6, 2007. The city paid P15 million in the bank for the formal transfer of the title to the city government.

The property now is being occupied by about 100 informal settlers and has allegedly become a drug den.

Rossell admitted that the P100 million is not enough, but they will need it as a stand-by fund in the processing of the permits, plans and detailed engineering and feasibility studies.

“Mas maayo gyud na naa’y andam na kwarta aron masugdan na sya kay sa unya pa ta mangita og budget,” Rossell said.

He said that they also intend to use the funds to construct house and lot packages in other relocation sites of the city, especially in the mountain areas.

“We have recently discovered that we have a lot of vacant lots that only need to be developed. Since we are close to identifying all of it, we can start developing them so more urban poor can benefit from our housing program,” Rossell said.

The DWUP estimates that there are 4,000 informal settlers currently occupying the identified danger areas in the city and they need to be relocated. —/NLQ (FREEMAN)