Saturday, July 26, 2008 Lapu to address concerns of RDC on project By Jujemay G. Awit Sun.Star Staff Reporter
LAPU-LAPU City officials are willing to address the worries of regional planners even as they are bent on pursuing the P10-billion Mactan North Reclamation and Development Project (MNRDP).
If they were only given a chance to show their presentation on the project, they would have answered concerns of the members of the Regional Development Council (RDC) 7, which moved last Thursday to ask President Arroyo to recall her approval of the project.
Disappointed Lapu-Lapu City officials—City Administrator Teodulo Ybañez and City Attorney Michael Dignos—said they had wanted to “enlighten” the members of the RDC 7 about the project during a special session called by RDC 7 Chairperson and Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.
The presentation was blocked since it was said to be straying from the real purpose of the special session.
Garcia called for the special meeting to discuss pending motions from the previous full council meeting, where the matter was shelved after Dignos raised the lack of quorum.
Last Thursday, RDC 7, in a resolution, pointed out Lapu-Lapu City’s lack of coordination with the Cebu Provincial Government and other agencies regarding the project.
But Lapu-Lapu City officials said this was not so.
“The (proponents of the) MNRDP did and will continue to coordinate with the agencies mandated by the Philippine Government in relation to the planning and implementation of the project,” read a hard copy of the presentation that Ybañez and Dignos prepared for the RDC 7 meeting.
Dignos also explained after the session that they are coordinating with the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA), which signed a memorandum of agreement with Lapu-Lapu City for the project.
The City Government, Dignos said, also communicated with the Presidential Management Staff, which ordered the PRA to coordinate with the project implementor.
Lapu-Lapu City is also addressing environmental concerns raised against the project.
The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) 7 and the Cebu Provincial Board had expressed worries that the proposed project would affect the Mactan channel.
But Dignos said a new round of environmental impact studies has been implemented.
Lapu-Lapu City also hired two consultants from Manila to undertake the environmental study as well as to conduct a “review of the land use plans and preparations of preliminary engineering designs.”
The presentation would have ended with a statement from the Office of the Mayor: “In the overall scope of things, the City felt that as a highly urbanized City like Cebu City, it doesn’t require approval of its development by other government entities except the Government of the Philippines.”
“However, the City has always observed consultation with affected neighbors, recognized and has gone through coordination with the requisite government agencies in the implementation of development projects,” the statement also read.
Lapu-Lapu City officials also said that the MNRDP intends to cater to the needs of the city as well as the entire country.
