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Apartment project has ‘minimal impact’ on environment, says SBMA

By Bebot Sison Jr.
Saturday, April 5, 2008 [ philstar.com ]

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) clarified that an apartment complex being constructed by a South Korean investor here has “minimum environmental impact,” considering that it was built on an existing built-up area.

According to documents provided to The STAR, the $455.6-million apartment project is located at an abandoned bunker previously used by the US Navy as an ammunition storage.

“The area, therefore, has already been cleared beforehand, and because of this, it has been classified as suitable for re-development,” said SBMA administrator and chief executive officer Armand Arreza.

Arreza said the project site has been leased to Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp., a registered Subic locator, with the approval of the SBMA board of directors in February last year.

Hanjin, which has previously invested $1.7 billion in a shipyard project at Subic’s Redondo Peninsula, “has taken adequate and appropriate measures to ensure that the project meets all the requirements on environmental standards,” Arreza said.

Among the requirements complied with by Hanjin were a full-blown environmental impact assessment, which was conducted by a competent environmental consultant; environmental clearance certificate and zoning clearance from the SBMA; and even a height clearance from the Air Transportation Office.

According to the environmental impact study, the site “is characterized by patches of secondary growth vegetation around the cleared section.”

Most of the trees in the area were also identified to be non-dipterocarp types, and mostly fruit trees like kamachile, guava and jackfruit.

The study, completed in May 2007, added that no wild animals were observed in the project area, except for birds and short-nosed fruit bats.

Arreza said Hanjin has assured authorities that the 13,357-square-meter apartment complex will be managed well and will comply with environmental laws.

“Subic has always prided itself as a place where industry and commerce co-exist with nature. This is another project where we intend to prove this point,” he said.

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