BACOLOD CITY – The Commission on Audit is expected to approve the sale and lease of the 7.7-hectare provincial government property to Ayala Land Inc. on May 22, Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon said.

The development plan has already been started as the project is targeted to start this year, the governor said Monday, adding that the project will provide jobs to thousands of Negrenses.

Ayala Land has proposed a P6-billion development project dubbed The Capitol Civic Center, a one-of-a-kind convergence of business, community, and governance.

It is an integrated mixed-use civic and commercial district that will combine the center of government with commercial and residential uses, ALI senior vice president Jose Emmanuel Jalandoni said at the bidding last year.

Last April 30, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental ratified the signed contracts for the sale and lease four days after Marañon signed both the deed of conditional sale and contract of lease with ALI president Antonino Aquino and Jalandoni.

Both deed of conditional sale and contract lease amount to about P3.5 billion, involving pieces of property situated adjacent to the Provincial Capitol along Gatuslao and Aguinaldo Sts., and North and South Capitol Roads in Bacolod City.

The sale involves of 36,587 square meters totaling P750.033 million while the contract of lease is for the 40,481-square meter lot at P73 per square monthly, amounting to almost P2.755 billion.*NLG