THE Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) has approved the P20 billion 100-hectare reclamation project in the town of Minglanilla, south of Cebu City.
PRA sealed the deal with the local government of Minglanilla on Friday, June 11, 2021.
The project’s private partner Ming-Mori Development Corp. (MMDC) is expected to submit the detailed engineering design of the reclamation project and other pre-construction requirements to PRA after the MOA signing, which the latter will evaluate leading to the issuance of the Notice to Proceed.
MMDC is an affiliate of listed firm Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI), the developer and manager of Minglanilla’s reclamation project that will erect the Minglanilla Techno-Business Park, an integrated mixed-use development that will house light industries, commercial, residential and port facilities, among others.
The PRA is giving CLI a three-year timeline to create the new land.
“Creating this new 100 hectares of land will give an additional space for economic activities,” said PRA general manager and chief executive officer Janilo Rubiato, adding that this project will uplift the local economy of Minglanilla and its neighboring towns.
“The only way you can really expand is to reclaim. When we started to conceptualize this project, Minglanilla was already moving to industrialize... They are now thinking of repositioning what was considered as a residential area of the province and shifting it to become an industrial base,” said Jose Soberano III, chairman and chief executive officer of MMDC and CLI.
Soberano said while fulfilling the requirements to PRA, CLI will begin its parallel works such as bidding out and looking for suppliers.
Besides the approval from the PRA, the reclamation project has already obtained an Environmental Compliance Certificate in 2020, after more than five years of rigid and comprehensive review.