Philippines will sell the Taguig City industrial estate, shares in an energy company and the lease of Fujimi property in Tokyo before the end of first quarter this year, a move aimed at increasing revenues to plug the widening budget deficit.

Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves, said the government will try to complete the privatization of the 120-hectare Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) property in Taguig City, 60 percent of the PNOC-Exploration Corporation and a 50-year lease for government property in Fujimi, Japan before March 31.

“We're trying to hit the March 31 deadline for all the three,” Teves told reporters in an interview.

Finance Undersecretary Crisanta S. Legaspi, who also heads the DoF's privatization group, meanwhile, said that the expected proceeds from FTI and Fujimi would come first, while PNOC-EC would be completed in March or April 2010.

The government is expecting to generate P30 billion proceeds from the sale and lease of these three state assets.

In October last year, DoF auction of FTI was declared a failure after the expected bidders skipped the sale.

FTI is an agro-industrial commercial estate in Taguig City that was built to become a food processing and consolidation center for agricultural produce. The terminal houses more than 300 small and medium enterprises engaged in garments and electronics manufacturing.

Meanwhile, DoF is set to determine the winning bidder and award the negotiated 50-year lease and development agreement for Fujimi property on February 23. The deadline for submission of prequalifying requirements was set not later than 2 p.m. Friday.

The government has considered a negotiated contract for the prime real estate after it failed to auction it off on December 2 last year. DoF said the offers from three Japanese companies failed to meet the bids and awards committee's requirements.

The planned sale of PNOC-EC, meanwhile, had been deferred several times in the past in search of favorable market conditions and response from investors. The government earlier tried to sell the asset in 2008 for P16 billion.