SM offers P36 B to develop Ft Boni lot

MANILA, Philippines - SM Land Inc. has offered P36 billion to the government to develop the 33.1-hectare Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) property along Lawton Ave. in Fort Bonifacio, a top BCDA official said.

In an interview, BCDA chairman Felicito Payumo said the Sy-owned company has submitted its bid for the BNS/PMC/ASCOM/SSU property being privatized by BCDA. He said the land will be converted into a mixed-use complex.

The 33.1-hectare BNS/PMC/ASCOM/SSU property is composed of lands presently occupied in part by the Army Service Command and Security Services Unit of the Philippine Army and in part by the Bonifacio Naval Station and Philippine Marine Corps of the Philippine Navy.

Under the Bonifacio South masterplan, the BNS/PMC/ASCOM/SSU area would be developed into a medium- to high-density residential and mixed-use complex, with a strong institutional component and has a maximum allowable gross floor area of 1.355 million square meters.

The property is located along Lawton Ave. and is separated from the Jusmag property by the NAMRIA area and a six-hectare strip of land retained by the Philippine Army.

The other two properties BCDA is supposed to dispose by next year include a 10-hectare and 25-hectare facility. Both facilities, however, have legal impediments.

The bigger lot or the NOVAI area is subject to a court case since the Navy Officers Village Association Inc. (NOVAI) was able to get land titles for the property. In 2007, the Court of Appeals (CA) tossed out an earlier decision by a Regional Trial Court favoring the settlers, and declared as null and void the owner’s title in the name of NOVAI.

On the other hand, the three non-BCDA properties south of Bonifacio Global City are portions of the Philippine Army Depot and Dental Dispensary, National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) and the Consular Area in Fort Bonifacio.

The masterplanning of the 120-hectare Bonifacio South properties went into full swing in 2009. Consultants—the consortium of Filipinas Dravo Corp. and Parsons Brinckerhoff Philippines Inc.—crafted the Master Development Plan (MDP) after the conduct of an open competitive bidding procedure in March 2009. The consultants submitted the draft final MDP in June, which covered land uses, development densities, road networks, indicative development costs, and indicative pricing of the property. The BCDA board approved the plan in December 2009.

The 10-hectare property in the Consular Area is also subject to claims by the Americans who are asking for monetary compensation for the area. This property is located near Jusmag which was already awarded to Megaworld.