[ Malaya.com.ph ] September 24, 2009
BY DENNIS GADIL
Property developer Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) yesterday said it will bid for the sprawling Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) Complex in Taguig City but not before completing its evaluation of the potential of the property.
"We’re still studying and carefully evaluating it," ALI president Antonino Aquino said in an interview.
He noted that the government has yet to issue the terms of reference (TOR) for the privatization of the property.
"When our evaluation is finished, we’re going to make an offer," Aquino said at the sidelines of the opening of its newest mall outside Metro Manila, the Marquee Mall in Angeles City.
The government has set a P12.9 billion floor price for the property.
Aquino said FTI is attractive for commercial and residential development.
He, however, ruled out putting up another Ayala mall in the FTI property, citing its proximity to the Market Market mall and Bonifacio High Street in upscale Fort Bonifacio.
"It’s too near to Fort Bonifacio. A mall is not part of the plan," Aquino said.
Aquino said the Ayala mall brand is also going to the Visayas. A new mall is being developed in Davao.
He said Ayala is also going ahead with a plant to put up small-sized community malls all over the country.
The FTI property is the part of the three assets that government wants to privatize this year to help plug a deficit running to P210 billion as of August.
The P210 billion eight-month funding shortfall is P40 billion shy of the full-year deficit target of P250 billion or 3.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves has said only 103 hectares of the 120-hectare FTI complex will be sold through bidding by the fourth quarter.
From an original asking price of P10 billion, the finance department raised the price to P12.9 billion.
Teves said the new valuation meant that the government is looking at not less than P13,000 per square meter.
In June, DOF Undersecretary Crisanta S. Legaspi said 24 of the 103 hectares have been declared a special economic zone. The long-term contracts between the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and locator firms will be honored even after privatization.
Another 79 hectares of the FTI complex are free for development, while the 17 hectares not covered by privatization are owned by the National Food Authority.
The sale of the FTI property accounts for close to half of the government’s target revenue of P30 billion from privatization this year.
The sale of the government’s 40-percent stake in PNOC Exploration Corp., valued at P11 billion, accounts for another big chunk of privation proceeds.
Another item scheduled for auction is the lease of the Philippines’ property in Fujimi, which was acquired as part of Japan’s reparations for damage inflicted in World War II.
The 4,361.85 square-meter Fujimi property, where the Philippine ambassador’s residence is located, is in central Tokyo ’s Chiyoda district.
The commercial and residential district of Chiyoda includes the Imperial Palace and other institutions of the Japanese national government like the legislature, the Supreme Court and the prime minister’s residence.
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