By Ray Eñano
| Posted on Mar. 14, 2013 at 12:01am |
[ Malaya.com.ph
]
Manila
residents deserve something better than its current filthy state. The
Philippine capital city has long lost its grandeur, with more businessmen and
tourists flocking to Makati, Taguig City, Quezon City and Parañaque City.
Manila
experienced a mini boom in the mid-70’s when the city hosted the joint World
Bank-International Monetary Fund annual meeting in 1976. The martial law
government of the late Ferdinand Marcos supported the construction of the
Philippine International Convention Center and several five-star hotels to
accommodate thousands of delegates and media attending and covering the
international event.
Manila’s
development as a modern urban center, however, stopped as businessmen, tourists
and workers gravitated toward Makati, which shortly established itself as the
country’s financial center.
The business
process outsourcing phenomenon also skipped Manila, with companies preferring
to operate in Makati, Quezon City, Mandaluyong and even in major cities in the
provinces such as Cebu and Davao City.
Manila
essentially is losing out to other cities in Metro Manila because of the
limited land available for property development. Manila Goldcoast Development
Corp., owned by the family of chairman and chief executive William Tieng, has
offered to solve Manila’s limited land area.
Tieng, who
also owns Solar Entertainment Corp., plans to increase Manila’s land area by
reclaiming 148 hectares of part of Manila Bay, or at the back of the Philippine
Navy and Manila Yacht Club and 600 meters toward the open sea.
Singapore
model
The
proponents of “The Manila Solar City” hopes to duplicate the success of
Singapore and Hong Kong in reclaiming lands
and making them usable, on which more buildings and infrastructures
could be built. The Marina Bay, Singapore Flyer and several financial centers
now stand on Singapore’s reclaimed lands, luring more tourists and businessmen.
Japan’s Kansai International Airport and Tokyo Bay area also sit on reclaimed
lands.
“The
surrounding areas of the project, such as Ermita and Malate, will also benefit
from the Solar City project in terms of increased value of their properties and
increased business resulting from the influx of tourists, residents and workers
in the area,” Manila Goldcoast said in a paper.
“From the
reclamation of 148 hectares, the new land assets value that will be generated
is estimated to be P148 billion at current market value. And assuming that the
buildings to be constructed will average 20 storeys, the total floor area that
can be constructed will require an investment of around P680 billion. The
project will therefore contribute over P800 billion in value to the national
/city of Manila assets,” it said.
The proponent
also plans to build a port at the southwestern portion of the project that can
serve incoming and outgoing cruise ships.
“Cruise ships
do not frequent the Philippines because of the lack of ports especially suited
for them. MGDC, however, plans on building a port especially for these cruise
ships, which would not only improve the view of Manila Bay through the grandeur
of these ships, but also add more public options for leisure activities [by]
providing access to them,” the company said.
Effective
breakwater
Manila
Goldcoast hit back at critics, who feared the reclamation would cause flooding
to communities near the project. The reclamation will actually serve as
breakwaters that will protect harbors and marinas from wave actions.
“Due to its
outlying design, the areas below the project would be protected from water
rushing from the north due to winds heading south, and vice versa,” the company
said.
“Also the
project may diffuse or at least bisect waves from the West Philippine Sea,
effectively decreasing wave strength and velocity before it even hits the
low-lying areas along Roxas Boulevard. In other words, the project also has
functional practical effects, through protecting the coast along Manila Bay in
the unfortunate incident that a storm surge recurs.”
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