The provincial government of Negros Occidental may soon engage in a land banking scheme, after the lease and sale of its prime property to Ayala Land Inc. at the back of Provincial Capitol in Bacolod City.

This was after the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental passed on its first reading yesterday the proposed 2015 supplemental budget number four of the province of P339,418,028.

Board Member Salvador Escalante, chairperson of the SP committee on Finance and Appropriations, said yesterday that P339.4 million fund was the payment of Ayala Land for the property, either sold and leased by the province to them.

Escalante said the bulk of the supplemental budget has been earmarked for the purchase of land.

“Since we sold our land,” he said, ”Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. wants to engage in land banking for future use of the province.”

Members of the SP committee on Finance will meet Wednesday next week to deliberate on the proposed supplemental budget, Escalante said.* GPB

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