CEBU CITY – A ferry liner, with travel destinations around the Visayas, is set to open its own terminal building within the Cebu city government-owned South Road Properties (SRP), an official familiar of the project announced.

Joel Mari Yu, managing director of the Cebu Investments and Promotions center, which is tasked to lure investors to Cebu, said the Ocean Fast Ferries Corp., which owns Ocean Jet, will sign anytime this month or the next a memorandum of agreement with the City Government for a 25-year lease contract of a 4,800-square-meter lot located at the SRP, specifically within the four-hectare Kawit Island.

Yu said initial plans include a five-story terminal building which will feature a wide space for shopping and dining facilities.

“This will be a major development for the ferry passengers because it will shorten their travel time by at least 15 minutes,” Yu told a press interview, adding that the ferry boat will no longer have to pass by the Mactan channel where the speed limit needs to be reduced, plus additional savings on fuel consumption.

Yu said that once the plan materializes, this will earn for the city additional income from either the monthly rental fees or 25 percent of all gross receipts from the terminal operations, whichever is higher.

Ocean Jet is set to pay P40 per square meter per month as rental fees, which could easily translate to P192,000 additional monthly revenue for the City Government.

Yu likewise warned of possible suspicions arising out of this joint venture agreement between Ocean Jet and the local government since the contract is targeted to be signed within the election period.