Fate of Kawit Is. dev’t now in Council’s hands

THE future of Kawit Island now lies at the hands of Cebu City Council after the executive department submitted the proposal for the development of the island.

Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez, executive assistant to Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, said that they already submitted the proposal to the Council last Friday for their approval.

“We had a Swiss challenge to find out if there was somebody interested to match or even top the proposal to develop Kawit Island of Universal Hotels and Resorts Inc. [UHRI], but since there was none, we sent the proposal to the council),” said Fernandez in Cebuano.

UHRI, which is affiliated with JG Summit Inc., was the only one interested for Kawit Island as the developer.

Fernandez said that JG Summit Inc., founded by business tycoon John Gokongwei, proposed to lease and develop the eight-hectare Kawit property for 50 years.

The firm plans to build a hotel, convention center and casino, among others in the lot.

Fernandez said that they are okay with the UHRI proposal to spend P18 billion to develop Kawit Island in the South Road Properties (SRP).

“Pasado na sa executive side ilahang proposal. Nagkasinabot ang mayor and the developer (On the side of the executive department, the proposal passed),” Fernandez said.

Another advantage for the city in the proposed deal is that the city government will get 10 percent of the gross income of every renter in the island.

As the proposal will be scrutinized by the Council, Mayor Osmeña said that the councilors should be objective in deciding on the fate of the proposal.

“They should consider the basic nature of this (contract). One, they (the developer) are not buying the property. It’s still the city will own the property,” Osmeña said.

Aside from the revenues that the city will get from the developer, Osmeña said that it will create jobs to at least 5,000 Cebuanos.