At least 1M jobs seen from Manila Bay reclamation projects
THE Pasay City-backed reclamation projects in Manila Bay can easily generate at least one million jobs from horizontal development and commercial operations alone.
Thus, said Pasay City Administrator Peter Manzano, who took part in a briefing Thursday, November 23 of the Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda-chaired House committee on ways and means.
Manzano, who attended the briefing on behalf of Pasay City Mayor Emi Calixto, spoke about the economic impact of reclamation efforts in Manila Bay, particularly under the Pasay Eco-City Coastal Development Projects.
Foremost among these according to him are the “millions of jobs and billions of revenues” the projects will generate.
The Eco-City endeavor included the 360-hectare reclamation project under a joint venture with SM Smart City Infrastructure and Development Corporation, dubbed “Pasay 360”.
“During horizontal development and commercial operations, private developers, investors, and business establishments at the Projects could easily generate over a million jobs, including those related to construction, business process outsourcing, retail, banking, hotels and restaurants, and the like,” said Manzano.
In general, Manzano said this joint venture with the private sector is “projected to create economic multipliers, and generate millions of jobs and billions of revenues by way of income and value-added taxes for the national government, and real property taxes and business taxes for the city”.
He said that as it is, Pasay’s development is held back by “acute land scarcity and urban congestion”.
The Eco-City project is designed to change all that, giving considerable windfall to the national government in the process.
“The national government already stands to generate close to P16 billion in regulatory and extraction fees,” Manzano continued.
“Once reclamation is completed, the national and local government stand to gain, at no financial cost, 131.25 hectares of saleable reclaimed land with a future estimated total value of over P650 billion once the area and its amenities are fully developed,” he noted.
By the city government’s projection, national taxes from investments and businesses from the reclamation may total over P1.3 trillion in 35 years’ time.
Meanwhile, revenues for Pasay may also total over P1.1 trillion in real property and business taxes.
There are a total of 21 projects in the Manila Bay, according to the Department of Environment and National Resources (DENR). President Marcos earlier suspended all reclamation projects pending the results of a cumulative impact assessment (CIA).
During the briefing, Nueva Ecija 3rd district Rep. Ria Vergara raised the persisting concerns over the environmental impact of the reclamation projects.
To this, Glenn Ang, president of SM Smart City Infrastructure and Development Corporation, said that its project was backed by all the necessary studies.
“We’d like to assure the honorable Congresswoman Vergara that all of the studies have been prepared, everything….the DENR is working now [on] the cumulative impact of all of the other reclamations it built all ltogether. And we’re very much open to all of these,” he said.
Salceda said in a previous briefing that the Philippines stands to lose P432 billion in the next five years if the reclamation projects remain suspended.
He said that Thursday’s briefing would be the last by committee on the topic of the Manila Bay reclamation projects.
