Bacolod City – The president and CEO of Almana Property and Development Corp. (APDC) is inquiring from Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez the status of their company’s unsolicited proposal for a joint venture (JV) arrangement between the city and APDC for the establishment of the ALMANA Global Business District Project.
In his letter to Benitez dated January 8, Ritchie Neil Corpus said the unsolicited proposal, which was received by the City Mayor’s Office on November 25, 2022, aims to create and establish the ALMANA Global District Project which includes the reclamation and development of foreshore lands immediately abutting and adjacent to their titled properties.
“It is worth noting that as the littoral and/or riparian owner of the aforementioned titled properties, we possess preferential rights for the use of the water, foreshore land or land submerged with water along the coastline of Brgy. 16, Downtown District, Bacolod City for purposes of sustainable development and to spur economic activity in the area,” he said.
In his Nov. 2022 letter to the mayor, Corpus said the master plan includes a modern Global District, transforming the Bacolod City coastline into a vibrant business park, reshaping Bacolod from being a mere gateway to Negros Island, to a highly desirable business hub, where local and international investors can enjoy the economic and social benefits that Bacolod City has to offer.
Through a joint venture arrangement, the project will create a sustainable partnership that will promote the general welfare and serve the public good by addressing challenges pertaining to business process outsourcing, commercial area, climate change, as well as inadequate and unattractive infrastructure due to land size and local government budget limitations and other restrictions, thereby increasing the economic and social value for the city, he said. (Chrysee Semillano via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)