TWENTY years since the project was approved, further delay is expected in the development of the 400-hectare reclamation project known as the Mactan Cebu Ocean City after the developer that will undertake it informed the Lapu-Lapu City Council that it does not have the financial capability to proceed with the project, a city official said Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023.
Lapu-Lapu City Vice Mayor Celedonio “Celsi” Sitoy said the developer, Salug Valley Enterprises and Development Corp. (SVEDC) Group, conveyed in previous City Council sessions that it does not have the financial capability to proceed with the project and that it is still looking for a partner to finance the project.
“Naghuwat na lang mi og balita kay nagpasalig man to siya nga naa siyay partner gyud,” Sitoy told SunStar Cebu.
(We are just waiting for word from him because he assured us that he really had a partner.)
Dr. Noli Arnulfo Igano is the president and chief executive officer of SVEDC.
Before it was rebranded to Mactan Cebu Ocean City (MCOC), the project was called the Mactan North Reclamation and Development Project (MNRDP).
MNRDP is a project between the Lapu-Lapu City Government and the Salug Valley Enterprises and Development Corp. (SVEDC) Group, which includes Jan de Nul, Royal Haskoning, Philippine Business Bank, FBO Management Network Inc., and other private institutions.
Sitoy said he could not give the exact figure on the cost of the project because a long time had passed and they probably need to update the expenditures.
The cost of the project was P10.29 billion in 2008. However, a document uploaded by the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) shows that the reclamation project now costs P25 billion.
Covering 400 hectares of foreshore and offshore areas in Mactan Bay, the project aims to integrate industrial, commercial, residential and tourism development.
As envisioned in 2008, the reclamation will form a small islet covering the offshore land of adjacent Barangays Ibo, Buaya, Mactan and Punta Engaño. Three bridges will connect the islet to the mainland.
The reclamation project was approved on April 27, 2003 during the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Five years later or on April 27, 2008, the PRA and the city government under then mayor Arturo Radaza entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) that bound the PRA to provide technical assistance during the project’s implementation and for the City to start the project when able.
An environmental compliance certificate had already been granted by the Environmental Management Bureau for the project in September 2007 after the completion of the environmental impact study.
On the MCOC website, the developer said it aims to build ocean theme parks, sports arenas, yacht and sailing clubs, and an international hospital for medical tourism integrated with international retirement villages/spas and wellness centers.
During Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan’s fourth State of the City Address last July 5, he said the reclamation project was expected to happen this year.
The project has been beset by issues since the MOA signing between the PRA and Lapu-Lapu City.
The project was immediately opposed by the Central Visayas Regional Development Council (RDC), then led by Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, for supposedly not undergoing consultations with affected stakeholders.
In 2011, it was included in the list of priority public-private partnership (PPP) projects during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III, but it was still awaiting investors to fund its construction.
Michael Dignos, executive secretary of then Lapu-Lapu City Rep. Arturo Radaza, said its approval as a PPP meant the City no longer needed to coordinate with the RDC or even with the National Economic and Development Authority 7 on it.
In 2015, then mayor Paz Radaza said the project cost was now P20 billion and that it would take three to five years to complete. She did not name the developer but said an international technical group was handling the project. She said the project might start in 2016.