Negotiated sale for FTI property seen in 2012

The government expects to finally privatize its Food Terminal Inc. property in Taguig City through a negotiated deal by 2012, according to Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima.

But Purisima said in an interview that the process could not push through until after a new appraisal of the 120-hectare chunk of land has been conducted.

“Land Bank of the Philippines will do the reappraisal and as you know, a negotiated bid will automatically undergo a Swiss challenge,” he said.

This means that the government must entertain other proposals for the privatization, which the proponent of the negotiated bid has the option to match.

The finance chief explained that the FTI property was last appraised in 2010 and that the government wanted to make sure the valuation was up to date before pushing ahead with negotiations.

In 2010, the government deferred the privatization of the FTI land after public and competitive biddings failed for the third time.

Back then, the latest appraisal placed the value of the FTI asset at P13 billion, although finance officials said the government expected to earn less than that because of the repeated failure of bidding.

Ayala Land Inc., San Miguel Properties Inc. and SM Investments previously expressed interest to acquire the property in Taguig City.

The government raised only P900 million—mainly from the sale of small-ticket items—through its privatization efforts in 2010, which was less than half its P2-billion goal for that year.

Along with the FTI lot, Malacañang also put on hold the privatization of two other big-ticket assets, including the government’s share in the Malampaya natural gas project and the lease of a prime property in Tokyo.

These three properties were expected to raise a total of P30 billion.