Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III is hoping to start the stalled Ciudad project in Barangay Apas, Cebu City this year. (CDN FILE PHOTO)
After being stalled for a decade, will the Ciudad project in Barangay Apas, Cebu City finally push through?
Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III said he was hoping that within this year, on his second term, the project will already start especially since the province has signed a build-transfer-operate (BTO) agreement with Fifth Avenue Development Corp. in September last year.
Under the memorandum of agreement (MOA)), Davide said construction of the project should start within one year from the signing.
“This is for the province. Aron mokita pud ning atong yuta diha sa Banilad (So that our lots in Banilad generate revenue),” Davide said in a press conference yesterday.
Under the MOA, the province will earn 0.55 percent of Ciudad’s monthly gross sales or P200,000, whichever is higher.
Davide said a team from the provincial government has been formed and they would be working with the settlers who would be affected by the project within the area, which is around 2.8 hectares.
Davide assured though that government offices in the area like the Population Commission 7 and the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (ERUF) would not be evicted by the project.
Davide also assured that the MOA he signed with Fifth Ave. has been thoroughly reviewed compared to the original version, which was started during the administration of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia in 2006.
The signing of the MOA has been approved by the Cebu Provincial Board (PB).
Fifth Ave. executive vice president Michael Dino earlier said that the project is estimated to cost more than P2 billion.
Fifth Ave. has also signed a separate memorandum of understanding with Filinvest Land Inc., which will finance the development and will also act as the marketing, operation and management arm of the project.
Dino has also been recently named as part of the Cabinet of incoming President Rodrigo Duterte as the presidential assistant for the Visayas.
But the province and the developer are set to face another hurdle as incoming Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has been opposing the project since the time of Garcia.
The Cebu City Council also earlier imposed a moratorium on construction of new buildings along the Banilad-Talamban corridor to prevent the traffic problem in the area from worsening.
TOM O’S DECISION
Acting Cebu City Mayor Margarita Osmeña said she will leave it to her husband on to how to decide on the project.
“Let’s just wait for Tommy. I don’t comment on things if it’s permanent in nature,” she told Cebu Daily News.
“But he felt very strongly about it. His decision was based on traffic, and I think he was proven right. And I think traffic there is even worse now,” she added.
Davide and Osmeña though are political allies under the Liberal Party and have been known to work together in issues concerning both the province and the city like the 93-1 land tenure issue which they both promised during the last campaign season to solve within six months in office.
“Mag-isturyahanay gihapon mi (ni Tomas) ana (We will still discuss about it),” Davide said.
He pointed out though that the province also has another MOA with the Cebu Property Ventures Development Corp. (CPVDC), which operates the Cebu IT Park, regarding the opening of new access roads go to and from the Ban-Tal corridor or Gov. Cuenco Ave. in order to help ease and improve traffic in the area.