Gov’t lowers price of FTI lot by up to P4 billion

The government, faced again with a swelling budget deficit this year, has lowered the price of its 103-hectare Food Terminal, Inc. (FTI) property in Taguig City. The Department of Finance (DOF) is now willing to sell the agro-industrial lot for roughly P9-P10 billion from a previous estimate of P13 billion so it can dispose of the property in the first quarter, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said on Friday night. "Thirteen billion pesos is something that might be too difficult at this point in time, so we're looking at somewhere between P9 and P10 billion," he said. The Finance chief said the government was in talks with two to three parties for a possible negotiated sale of the FTI property. FTI is a 120-hectare agro-industrial commercial estate in Taguig. It was originally built as a food processing and consolidation center for agricultural products. It houses more than 300 small and medium companies from manufacturing, garments and electronics. Of the 120-hectare property, the National Government is selling 103 hectares because the remaining 17 hectares are owned by the National Food Authority (NFA). Last year, private property developers snubbed a public bidding for the property, resulting in a failed auction. Four developers that include Ayala Land, Inc. and the Gokongweis' Robinsons Land Corp. had expressed interest in the FTI property but none submitted bids at last year's sale. The government is counting on the FTI sale to boost revenues and plug an estimated record deficit of P293 billion this year. Proceeds from the FTI sale will form part of the P30-billion target collections from the privatization of state-owned assets this year. The government is also selling its 60-percent stake in Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. for P14-P15 billion, as well as leasing its property in Fujimi, Japan for P3 billion. Last year, the budget gap swelled to P298.5 billion, above the expected P290 billion and also higher than the P250-billion target due to poor revenues following the enactment of measures that cut taxes and failure to sell big-ticket state assets. This was more than four times the P68.1-billion deficit in 2008. Last December alone, the budget deficit reached P26 billion, higher than the P1.4-billion gap posted a year earlier. — GMANews.TV