Government to sell remaining property in Japan

The government is set to auction its remaining property in Japan on March 4 as part of efforts to raise revenues.  

The property in Fujimi Cho, Chiyoda Ku, worth at least P3 billion houses the official residence of the Philippine ambassador to Japan. 

Interested bidders have until Jan. 28 to submit their letters of intent for the right to develop the property, Finance Undersecretary Gaudencio Mendoza Jr. announced yesterday. 

A pre-bid conference is scheduled on Jan. 29, added Mendoza, who chairs the Bids and Awards Committee for the Philippine Government Properties in Japan (BAC-Japan). 

Earlier, the government has successfully awarded lease and development contracts for its 764-sqm property in Naniwa Cho and the 3,014-square meter property in Obanoyama Cho both situated in Kobe, Japan to Berg Co. Ltd. of Japan. 

It has likewise awarded the four-story building with a floor area of 2,489 sq. m. in Nampeidai in Tokyo Japan to Nagayama-Taisei consortium of Japan. 

The sale of the Fujimi property is part of government efforts to raise revenues and boost state coffers.  

The DTI has set a target of P30 billion from privatization for 2008 or one third of the P90.6 billion generated last year. Aside from Fujimi, the P30 billion includes expected revenues from the sale of the government’s stake in power distributor Manila Electric Co., and the 100-hectare Food Terminals Inc. (FTI) in Taguig. 

The government has been stepping up efforts to boost state coffers but the privatization of state-owned assets has become the major source of revenues amid shortfalls in tax collections. 

Fiscal authorities are stepping up efforts to improve collections. As of end-November 2007, the government posted a budget surplus of 12.6 billion.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the government has not awarded the right to develop the property.

He made the clarification amid reports of a forgery attempt by an unknown party to make it appear that the property has already been assigned to a certain Shangri-la Village Development & Consultancy Corp.

“We would also like to stress that the (right to develop) the property has not been awarded to any party and that any representation to the contrary is false,” Teves said in a statement.