Bidding for Fujimi property lease deferred anew

The government has again moved the bidding for the lease of its posh real estate property in Fujimi, Japan to March from February. Based on a document from the bids and awards committee, signing of the contract between the state and the winning bidder had been moved to March 9 from February 23. The government postponed the bidding several times last year due to various hiccups, including the lack of bidders. A Finance official said there were six interest bidders for the 50-year lease and development contract for the Philippine property. The government expects to raise P3-P5 billion from the lease, which is being opposed by a group of Filipino and Japanese artists based in Japan. Interested groups must submit the terms of reference and prequalification documents by February 15. The committee will then inform them whether they prequalify three days later. Qualified bidders must submit their technical and financial bids by February 22. The property, located in upscale Fujimi Cho, Chiyoda-Ku, is the residence of the Philippine ambassador to Japan. The government earlier considered a negotiated contract for the property after a failed auction last December 2. The Finance department said offers from three Japanese companies had failed to meet standards. The Finance department had said that it postponed the bidding process for the Fujimi property because of technicalities and not because a group of cultural workers asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the planned lease. The late President Jose Laurel bought the property for the country from Baron Zenjiro Yasuda when the Philippines was under Japanese occupation during World War II. — GMANews.TV