BCDA seeks better offer for prime Bonifacio property

The Bases Conversion and Development Authority is seeking a “better offer” from SM Land Inc., the only company that submitted a proposal for the development of the 33.1-hectare Bonifacio South property.

BCDA president and chief executive Arnel Paciano Casanova said the government agency wrote SM Land “a long time ago” for an improved offer for the joint-venture project.

He said that SM Land had committed to submit a revised offer this week.

“Everything is purely speculative now. We want to see the numbers. They promised to give it to us within the week,” Casanova said, admitting that the BCDA, at this point, did not have a specific benchmark as to how much each square meter of the property to be developed should cost as it had not been appraised in a while.

The property up for development is composed of parcels of land currently occupied by the Army Support Command (Ascom) and Special Services Unit (SSU) of the Philippine Army, as well as the Bonifacio Naval Station (BNS) and Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) of the Philippine Navy.

An appraisal done on the BNS/PMC/Ascom/SSU property in 2009 showed a value of only P8,000 per square meter, vis-à-vis SM Land’s offer of P36,900 per square meter.

“But our job is to make sure that the government gets the best deal. We’ll wait for the improved offer,” Casanova said. “If we accept their offer, it will be subjected to a Swiss challenge. If we don’t, then we’ll just terminate the process. Also, everything is still subject to the approval of the President.”—Abigail L. Ho