Mactan North Reclamation: Gov. Gwen wants proof of RDC okay for project
Governor Gwen Garcia has dared
Garcia, also the chairman of RDC, said the National Economic Development Authority had already spoken that the project had no approval from RDC but the city officials earlier said the RDC already approved the project in 2003 when Garcia was neither the governor nor the RDC chairman yet.
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Among the issues raised against the project is its environmental impact, such that it might constrict the current along the Mactan Channel. The governor said that it seems to us that the project was conceived without coordination, without consultations, and without regard on other LGUs and other entities that may be affected.
The provincial government has its own Cebu Reclamation Authority, Garcia said, and this was not even informed about the city project that would cost P10 billion.
The project covers the reclamation and making an islet out of 400 hectares of offshore areas off barangays Ibo, Buaya, Mactan, and Punta Engaño. Three bridges will connect the islet to the mainland.
The project has been designed to have an international seaport, and expand the Mactan Economic Zone and tourism-related projects of the city but there were reports that a pending legal issue has been hounding it.
This was the same project that former mayor, Ernest Weigel, had started before but got stalled later for still undisclosed reasons, the reports said.
Mayor Arturo Radaza now wants to implement the project and plans to begin works on it before his term ends in 2010, although some city officials admitted that funding problems may not allow its completion by that time.
Radaza however had another option and this was to put the project under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme.
Last April 27, the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) and the city signed a memorandum of agreement binding the PRA to provide technical assistance during project implementation.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, during the MOA signing, pointed out that this project will not cost the national government any fund as this will be handled by the city government.
Lapu-Lapu City Vice Mayor Mario Amores said the MOA was just a formality because the PRA approved the project’s feasibility study, which cost the city over P6 million, last year.
NEDA regional director Marlene Rodriguez however said earlier said the city government had “practically by-passed” all other entities in the approval of this project.
Before the PRA can approve such project, it must be endorsed first by the RDC, which is the highest policy-making body in the region that serves as the counterpart of the NEDA Board at the subnational level, Rodriguez said.
She further said that before a project is approved by the PRA, it must have an endorsement from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Cebu Port Authority, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Bureau of Food and Aquatic Resources.
The RDC has the power to stop the project in the absence of these endorsements, citing the DENR’s regional land-use committee, of which the NEDA being a member has to determine first the critical resources, including the sea lane, that will be affected by the project, said Rodriguez.
Garcia said the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority, where she is one of the board of directors, already opposed to the project because the airport management has its own expansion plan that may not conform with the reclamation project. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/RAE
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