[ Malaya.com.ph ] December 22, 2009
The government is also moving the auction date for the Food Terminals Inc. (FTI) property in Taguig City to the first quarter of 2010 as it tries to get a better price for the negotiated sale of the prime real estate valued at P12 billion to P13 billion.
Finance Undersecretary Crisanta Legaspi yesterday said the announcement of the winning negotiated bidder will have to be made in the first quarter of next year instead of this month.
Legaspi said the Privatization Management Office (PMO) handling the FTI sale appears to be running out of time and will have to conclude the negotiations in the first quarter of 2010.
The 2010 sale of the FTI followed the decision of the government to likewise re-set the auction sale of another prime real estate in Japan, the Fujimi lot, to early 2010.
The government, through the DOF-led Privatization Management Office (PMO), planned to dispose the 120-hectare FTI property this year at a price of P12 billion to P13 billion from an earlier estimate of P15 billion.
Of the 120 hectares, only 70 hectares would be privatized since the remaining portions of the property are titled to the National Food Authority (NFA) while the other lots are occupied by leasing tenants or locators with live contracts.
Legaspi earlier said 24 hectares has 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 is free for development, while the 17 hectares not covered by privatization is 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.
When no bidders showed up during the auction day last September, the government announced it would proceed with the unloading of the property through a negotiated sale.
Privatization officials have said four giant developers are interested in the FTI sale. Aside from perceived front-runner Ayala Land Inc., the developers which showed interest in the FTI property were the Gokongweis’ Robinson’s Land Corp. and Century Properties.
Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has revived its interest in the FTI property by submitting an offer of P7 billion, way below the asking price of the PMO.
The GSIS has threatened to block the negotiated sale to a private party should it fail to get a response to its offer.
GSIS chief Winston Garcia earlier said the GSIS is open to upgrading its price should the DOF-PMO accept their offer and push for further negotiations.
"If they want to negotiate for higher price, let’s see what we can offer," he has said.
Garcia said the asking price for FTI is "too high" considering that 30 percent of the property is made up of roads and that there are still existing locators that need to be bought out or relocated.
The FTI is one of the three assets originally scheduled for privatization this year to generate at least P30 billion to partly cover a widening deficit that already breached the full-year P250 billion ceiling by November at P272.5 billion.
Also up for privatization are the government’s 40 percent stake in the PNOC-Exploration Corp (P12 billion) and the 4,361 square-meter Fujimi property (P5 billion). - Dennis Gadil
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