Hold consultations for Ciudad's ECC

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council has requested the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to conduct public consultations before it issues an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) to anyone who wishes to construct infrastructure projects within the Banilad-Talamban areas.

The city legislators have adopted the resolution of the officials of Barangay Luz who are worried that if the Cebu City Government will grant building permits for the three-commercial buildings that will comprise the Ciudad Project and to other similar commercial buildings within the Banilad-Talamban corridor, it will worsen traffic in the area.

The FREEMAN learned that even if the City Planning and Development Corporation (CPDC) had already issued a locational clearance to the Fifth Avenue Development Corporation, the developer of the Ciudad Project, the firm has yet to secure an ECC from the DENR.

The ECC is one of the requirements for the issuance of a building permit from the Office of the Building Officials (OBO), said building official Josefa Ylanan.

City Councilor Alvin Dizon said a few days ago that there were over 1,000 concerned citizens, many of them residents of barangay Luz, who signed a petition asking the city officials to conduct a thorough study of the effects of granting an ECC to Ciudad project.

But the city legislators decided to refer the matter with the DENR because even if the City Planning and Development Office already issued a locational clearance, the planned construction cannot start without the ECC.

“The traffic problem in Banilad-Talamban road and situations in the area has definitely caused inconvenience and trouble to the residents of barangay Luz as the traffic jam has reached Archbishop Reyes Avenue and Juan Luna Avenue that falls within our territorial jurisdiction,” read the resolution from Barangay Luz.

The officials headed by Barangay Captain Rian Tante believe that the road situation in the area makes it appropriate to have a series of public consultations.

      Dizon has supported the stand of the Luz officials that it is fit to adopt a pro-active strategy to guide future physical development and regulate the construction of new commercial infrastructures until traffic congestion has been addressed.

The Ciudad Project, a joint venture project of the Capitol and the developer, has been suspended since in 2008.    - (THE FREEMAN)