The Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. is strongly opposed to the implementation of the P10 billion Mactan North Reclamation and Development Project.
“We are not against the project itself. What we are against is that we don’t trust (Mayor Arturo) Radaza. He has plenty of unexplained scam. He can’t even fix the roads,” MICCI president Efrain Pelaez Jr.
Pelaez, who has been at odds with Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Radaza said that the mayor is just resorting to diversionary tactics to avoid answering the alleged computer scam and the lampposts scam.
He said that the city has enough problems and enough scams to solve and implementing the gigantic reclamation project is another scam waiting to happen.
“We know that this project won’t take place during his term and they are now pushing this project just to attract influence peddlers and power brokers,” Pelaez said in an interview yesterday.
Pelaez added that aside from MICCI, the Cebu Business Club will also formalize its opposition to the said project in a form of a resolution.
Earlier, the Cebu Provincial Government through Governor Gwendolyn Garcia aired its opposition to the project after knowing that a Memorandum of Agreement was already signed between the Lapu-Lapu City government and the Philippine Reclamation Authority without consultations with the local government units concerned.
Garcia, who is also the chairperson of the Regional Development Council in Region VII and the head of RDC-Visayas said that this matter will be tackled by the councils and their opposition would also be formalized.
The governor explained that the proposed reclamation project may constrict the current in the Mactan Channel and have an impact on the environment among concerns.
National Economic Development Authority regional director Marlene Rodriguez said that practically the city government of Lapu-Lapu by-passed all other entities in the approval of this project.
The project already has the nod of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and according to the city officials anyone who raises opposition must bring the matter to the President.
Capitol consultant on information Rory Jon Sepulveda said that the provincial government will raise the matter to Malacañang anytime this week.
Radaza himself wants to implement the reclamation project and plans to begin work on the billion-peso project before he bows out of office in 2010.
The 400-hectare reclamation 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.
The project is also designed to cater to an international seaport, expansion of the Mactan Economic Zone and tourism-related projects of the city. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/NLQ