The planned 400-hectare Mactan North Reclamation and Development Project is meeting stiff opposition from the Provincial Government.
Cebu Governor Gwendolyn F. Garcia said that she is surprised that a memorandum of agreement for the project was signed even if there was no consultation with the other local government units.
“Lapu-Lapu City must have forgotten that though it is now highly-urbanized and independent with the province, still we are all contiguous,” Garcia said yesterday.
Last April 27, the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) and the city signed the MOA that binds PRA to provide technical assistance during project implementation.
Lapu-Lapu City Vice Mayor Mario Amores has said the MOA was just a formality because PRA had approved last year the project's feasibility study, which cost the city over P6 million to do.
Garcia said that the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority, where she is one of the members, has already expressed its opposition on the project and they will just have to formalize this through a resolution.
She said that the airport management has its own expansion plans and this may not be in consonance with the proposed reclamation project.
Garcia said that the provincial government has its own Cebu Reclamation Authority and was not even informed about this project, which costs a whooping P10 billion.
The governor, who is also the chairperson of the Regional Development Council of Region VII and the chairman of RDC-Visayas said that this matter will be tackled so that the councils’ opposition could also be formalized.
“It seems to us that the project was conceived without coordination, without consultations and without taking cognizance of the existence of the other LGUs and other entities that may be affected with this project,” Garcia said.
NEDA regional director Marlene Rodriguez said that practically the Lapu-Lapu City government "by-passed" all other entities in the approval of this project.
Rodriguez said that before the PRA can approve such project, as a general rule, this must be endorsed by the RDC, being the highest policy-making body in the region and serves as the counterpart of the NEDA Board at the sub-national level.
She said that before the project is approved by PRA it also need to be endorsed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Cebu Ports Authority, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
"The RDC has the power to stop the project in the absence of endorsement. So far, the Lapu-Lapu City government has not submitted to us such proposal," Rodriguez said.
Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza, who wants to implement the reclamation project before he bows out of office in 2010, is confident that despite the opposition, this will push through.
Despite funding problems, Radaza is looking at the implementation of the project via a build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme.
Executive Secretary Ermita, during the MOA signing, pointed out that the national government is not spending a single centavo on the project.
The project will form a small islet covering the offshore land of adjacent barangays Ibo, Buaya, Mactan and Punta Engaño. Three bridges will connect the islet to the mainland.
This is also designed for an international seaport, the expansion of the Mactan Economic Zone, and tourism-related projects.
This project was reportedly hatched during the administration of Mayor Ernest Weigel, but was stalled for undisclosed reasons.
Radaza said that while he is waiting for the resolutions opposing their project, he thinks these would have no effect.
He said that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has approved the project.
The city mayor said they will comply with all the necessary requirements for the implementation of the project and assured the Cebuanos that the project will not affect the Mactan Channel.
The city has also set aside P2.8 million for an environmental impact study by a technical team from the DENR. – Mitchelle P. Calipayan and Jose P. Sollano/NLQ