By Justin K. Vestil
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
THE Mandaue City Government wants to turn at least 130 hectares of its coastal area into a Global City.
A private port operator from Metro Manila will help City Hall figure out if that plan is feasible at all.
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Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes and Harbour Center Port Holdings Inc. (HCPHI), represented by Dr. Michael Romero, signed a memorandum of agreement yesterday that will bind HCPHI to conduct a feasibility study in the next three to six months.
Romero, in an interview with reporters, said they are proposing to develop coastal areas from the Cansaga Bay Bridge to the North Reclamation Area (NRA) into a mixed use
zone.
He said they found Mandaue City to be viable as a commercial and industrial gateway to Cebu. With the Global City Mandaue project, they said they can turn the city into the premier commercial and industrial city in Cebu, with a harbor industry as vibrant as that of Hong Kong.
Romero revealed that the project, after feasibility study, will undergo four phases, with commercial development and logistics pursued in the first two phases.
The third phase involves turning some parts of the development into residential areas, while the fourth phase is the preparing buffer zones for mangroves.
Mayor Cortes, in a separate interview, told reporters the project will speed up Mandaue City’s development and make the most of its strategic location.
They are estimating the project to cost about P8 billion to P9 billion, and said it may be finished by 2016.
Although it will be done at no cost to the City Government, the feasibility study will cost HCPHI about P140-P150 million, Romero said.
HCPHI is the holding company of the Romero family for its port operations and currently runs the Manila North Harbor and Harbour Center.
Also yesterday, Business World reported that a joint venture between Romero’s group and San Miguel Corp. intend to spend P2 billion this year to repair the Manila North Harbor’s platform and pier.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on February 14, 2012
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