CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has decided to put on hold the P270 million down payment made by an investor whose proposal includes building a mall in the South Road Properties (SRP).

Osmeña said he would not use SM Prime Holdings’ P270 million down payment pending some revisions on the publications which included the SRP guard houses in the property bought by SM.

The guard houses should not have been included in SM’s 30.6 hectare property.

He said once the newspaper publications would be corrected then the money would be available for the city’s use.

Osmeña also said the SRP was not constructed to make money but to make the city competitive.

“The purpose of the SRP is to beat Manila. Cebu can’t prosper if we can’t beat Manila. It might take a generation, but we must beat Manila,” he told barangay captains during their Christmas party yesterday at the Association of Barangay Council building at the SRP.