Cebu Province earns P600T for rent of Apas lot

CEBU, Philippines - The Province of Cebu has started earning from its 1.2 hectare lot in Barangay Apas, Cebu City, which is being developed by Filinvest Land Inc., as a Business Process Outsourcing complex.

After the contract was signed last March 26, FLI made the first payment in the amount of P600,000 for the month of June to the Province of Cebu as monthly rental.

The groundbreaking of the said complex was held last May 26 at the former site of the Cebu City Jail of which FLI and Cebu Province partnered to develop the property under a Build-Transfer-Operate scheme. 

This means that the provincial government retains the ownership of the property and is also entitled to own any improvements made.

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said the P600,000 the province has received was only for the rent. The rate is also subject to increase in the succeeding years.

According to the contract, the monthly payment of FLI will go on for 25 years, the duration of the land developer’s use of the property. FLI will operate and manage the facility for 25 years with a renewal option for another 25 years.

A monthly two-percent share on the gross revenue or P500,000, whichever is higher, is also collectible from FLI.

The first P1.7-billion 10-story building will stand on a 15,000 square meters lot and will be finished in May 2013.

The entire project will be developed over five years with a total investment of P6 billion and is expected to generate 15,000 to 20,000 jobs for Cebuanos.

Earlier, Joseph Yap, President and Chief Executive Officer of Filinvest, expressed his positive outlook, saying that they are “bullish about Cebu” and that they have “confidence in the local government unit”.

He explained that they did their own study and foresaw a reasonable profit from the investment.  (FREEMAN)