FOLLOWING the controversies that arose after the project reveal of “The Rise at Monterrazas,” a Banaue Rice Terraces-inspired luxury condo project in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City, project engineer and content creator Slater Young and his team assured that the multi-million project has undergone multiple experts’ opinions and revisions for it to be sustainable and adhere to best practices.
Young made this assurance on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023, on his Facebook reels. He expressed their commitment that the project will adhere to environmental protection standards and best practices.
He said all comments from concerned environmental advocates and the public regarding the impact of his upcoming project have been noted by his team.
“We have been working on this project for a long long time, our team is composed of dedicated architects, a lot of engineers, and sustainability experts. We went through 300 revisions to make sure that we will build this according to the ‘best practices’ possible,” Young said.
“I appreciate everyone who took the time to comment and narinig namin ang lahat nang (we heard all your) concerns ninyo and we continue to engage more expert groups and environmental advocates to look over our plans and our goal here is to listen,” he added.
Slater announced that in the following days, he will be presenting full details of the project including the technical analysis and feasibility study to the public.
First introduced on Aug. 24, 2023, The Rise at Monterrazas will be constructed along the slopes of a mountainside, which Young said is unique from the usual design of elevated towers for a condominium unit.
The project will have 146 units. Amid mixed reactions, Young said the pre-selling of the units has been going well.
Environmental impact
During the project reveal, Young said they would ensure the sustainability aspect of the project.
“We wanted it to be architecturally forward, something that Cebu or the Philippines has never seen before. We wanted it to be not just maganda tingnan (pleasant to look at) but very, very usable din (functional) and may add benefit (beneficial) to the user. And lastly, because we are building on the mountainside, we want the project to be (as) sustainable as possible,” Young said on Aug. 24.
Several netizens have raised concerns over the project, particularly on its impact to the growing plants in the area and flooding during heavy rains.
In an interview with One News’ “The Big Story” on TV5 on Wednesday, Young said the permits and regulatory requirements of the project are already complete, while the construction of the project has yet to start, pending consultations and tapping of experts for green certifications. This is to ensure that the project is as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible.
Young said the zoning classification where the project will be built falls under the residential zone. The team also conducted a soil boring test, a subsurface investigation of the soil to determine its strength and properties. Young’s team found out that the soil was composed of hard limestone which determined the feasibility of the project.
In the event of heavy rainfall, Young said the project was designed to collect and store rainwater. It will have an underground tank situated beneath the mountain which can hold water based on historical data with past year’s rainfall volumes.
This collected rainwater will be used for the irrigation system of the greeneries and vegetation around and within the project area.
There will also be a detention pond, which Young described as big enough to collect a large volume of rainwater.