Mandaue consortium to build major harbor

The Mandaue Land Consortium Inc. (MLCI) is set to kick off its P14 billion Mandaue Harbor City Reclamation Project in the middle of this year transforming the 295-hectare site into world-class port and harbor facility.

MLCI is a partnership between the Mandaue City government and D. M. Wenceslao and Associates Inc., Jan de Nul, N.V. of Belgium and Lyons and Association of Hawaii. The city owns 30 percent of the company.

The proposed project site is within Cansaga Bay, Mandaue City, and is accessible through the Marcelo Fernan Street in the Southern portion connecting to the second bridge.

Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano said the project is awaiting its environment permits and it would probably start within the next six months.

Currently, the consortium is on its scooping stage, working on the environmental impact assessment of the project, the Mayor said.

Under the Presidential Decree 1586, all government agencies, government-owned and controlled corporations and private companies are required to prepare an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) for any project or activity that affects the quality of the environment. This requirement mandates that in the project planning stage, an EIA Study must be conducted in order to address, mitigate minimize the impacts of the Environmentally Critical Project (ECP).

The Mandaue Harbor City Project is envisioned to become a major port and harbor facility not only for Mandaue City and Metro Cebu, but also for Southeast Asia.

Developments inside the reclamation project include a port and harbor facility, container terminals, and areas allocated for industrial and commercial land uses that will compose the Manduae Business Park.

According to Ouano the reclamation is seen as a feasible and practical solution to increase the usable land in the City of Mandaue. The success of the South Reclamation Project will be duplicated in the northern portion of Mandaue City.

Ouano said this project is very important for the City's goal to establish one of the major ports in Southeast Asia, considering also that majority of the City's industry is into exports.

"To achieve this goal to have one of the major ports in Southeast Asia, has become necessary for the City to develop its coastline into a world-class port and harbor facility," Ouano said.

However, a constraint on the city is its limited land area that would be needed to support complementary developments for a world-class harbor facility.

He said reclaiming the foreshore area of its remaining coastline is a feasible solution in order for this type of development to be realized.