THE Cebu City Government and Expedition Construction Corp. (ECC) have signed a joint venture agreement (JVA) to proceed with the development of the former Inayawan landfill in Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City and Pond A in the South Road Properties seven years after it was put on hold.
Mayor Michael Rama and Simon Paz, chairman and chief executive officer of ECC, signed the JVA on Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022.
Brian Paz, project manager of ECC, said the company has set aside P20 billion for the filling in of the 15-hectare landfill and the 60-hectare Pond A and the retrieval of around four million metric tons of garbage from the landfill.
“We are excited to deliver to the people of Cebu a world-class development business center, recreational amenities and a medical facility in this once unproductive area,” Brian, the son of ECC’s top honcho, said.
The younger Paz said the project will possibly begin next month as they were still finalizing the detailed engineering design for the project, which is targeted to be completed in five years.
“We are applying in this Inayawan landfill the latest in technology which will be the first in the Philippines. Rest assured that we, the private proponent of this project, have nothing in mind but to be able to contribute to the city’s objective to be more progressive and raise the city to greatest heights,” the project manager said.
Lawyer Collin Rossell, who was appointed by Rama as project spokesperson, said the sharing of income from the mixed use development of Pond A would be 50-50, aside from the taxes that the city would receive and the thousand of jobs the project would generate.
Councilor Raymond Garcia, majority floor leader of Cebu City Council, passed a resolution at the City Council after due deliberations authorizing Rama to sign the agreement with ECC.
The city councilor said the project includes the bridge that will connect the landfill to Pond A, a hospital, business establishments and a recreation center that will be open to the public.
In 2014, when Rama was still the mayor of Cebu City, ECC submitted an unsolicited proposal to the City about the project and was given original proponent status in November of the same year.
The negotiations between the City and the Joint Venture Selection Committee (JVSC) on the project then started.
The signatories of the project were also about to discuss the Swiss Challenge or the Competitive Challenge for the proposed reclamation project, but negotiations halted when Rama was defeated by former mayor Tomas Osmeña during the May 2016 election.
ECC filed a specific performance of contract case against the Cebu City Government in December 2018 in a Quezon City court.
The court granted this on Jan. 22, 2021 and ordered the JVSC to proceed with the Swiss challenge.
A specific performance is an equitable relief by a court to enforce contractual obligations between the parties, according to scconline.com.
In August 2021, the JVSC sent out invitations to companies for the Swiss challenge during the time of Mayor Edgardo Labella, and ECC won. (TPT)