THE office of the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) in Davao Region said final evaluation report of the 200-hectare Davao Coastline and Port Development Project in Davao City will be out next month.
Neda-Davao Regional Director Ma. Lourdes Lim, said in a press conference at the Royal Mandaya Hotel on Thursday, May 4, that the evaluation process took time as it needs to encompass financial, economic, social and institutional concerns.
She said the project should benefit the city and its inhabitants.
“We are, at the moment, still in the process of reviewing the project. But we hope to release the final evaluation report by early June this year,” she said.
She added that the result will be presented to the Regional Development Council through the committee on infrastructure.
Lim also advised the local government of Davao City to conduct more consultations with various stakeholders to fully determine if the proposed P39-billion project would benefit the city and its inhabitants, and will not endanger the environment especially the marine life.
The Mega Harbour Port and Development Inc. is the proponent and developer of the big ticket, joint-venture project.
The preliminary technical studies for the reclamation, construction and development of a modern port city in this urban center’s foreshore area are now complete.
Last month, Mega Harbour chairman Reghis Romero II said that they already completed all the geotechnical, parcellary, bathymetric, baseline traffic, socioeconomic, environmental and coastal engineering surveys of the areas in and around the prospective 200-hectare site.
The environmental compliance certificate (ECC), however, has yet to be secured. It is now being processed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and its Environment Management Bureau (EMB).
All the preliminary studies are now completed, less than a year since the signing of the agreement on the project on June 21, 2016 by then Mayor, now President, Rodrigo Duterte and Romero.
“The issuance of the ECC by the DENR-EMB will serve as the green light for the start of Mega Harbour’s formulation and design of the integrated and detailed engineering master plan, where the results of all the preliminary studies shall be factored in,” Romero said in a statement.
The latest to be completed, according to Romero, were the coastal engineering survey and the environmental study.
“The coastal engineering survey involved near shore oceanography, marine geology, behavioral assessment of waves and measurements of the pressure of flashing, or the impact of water current when it hits the shore,” Romero pointed out.
“On the other hand, the environmental study takes into account the results of all the technical studies put together,” Romero added.