A DRAFT agreement between the provincial government and the City of Naga for the purchase of the controversial Balili property had been submitted to the mayor’s office for review.
Naga City Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong confirms receiving a copy of the draft agreement submitted by Cebu Gov. Hillario Davide III.
The draft agreement stated that the property will be sold at P100 million to the city. It will be paid in installment at P25 million a year, the mayor said.
“Naga has 10,000 hectares … I saw that the Balili lot is a good area for development in the city,” Chiong said.
The mayor said the city’s center is actually reclaimed area and Naga has few sites for development.
A joint inspection by the Capitol and City environment teams will be done on site followed by negotiations to finalize the deal.
Once a site development plan is finished, Chiong said the city will either turn the lot into an economic /industrial zone or set up a government institution.
Chiong said she is also considering to develop the lot into a port area.
Naga City sought to purchase the Balili lot from the provincial government since the term of former Mayor Valdemar Chiong.
The lot is subject to a graft probe on former Cebu governor and now Deputy House Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia.
The 24-hectare lot in Tina-an, Naga City, Cebu was purchased under the Garcia administration on April 2008 for P98 million and is being considered as an eco-industrial zone.
But a survey by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources regional office said 20 hectares of the property was submerged in water and planted with mangroves.
The case was elevated to the Sandiganbayan on 2012. /USJ-R Intern Zena V. Magto
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