SRP Has Edge Over Mandaue Reclamation: Tom (May 2006)
With a lot from the South Reclamation Project (SRP) to show to investors, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he is in no way insecure with the way Mandaue City will package its reclamation project. “I wish them well so we don’t have to take care of them,” he told a news conference yesterday. Osmeña said Cebu City has a lot more edge in attracting investors to the SRP than the reclamation project owned by F.F. Cruz, “a profit-oriented group, which has not put money back to the Mandaue City Government, while Cebu City owns the entire SRP.” “What does Mandaue own? After all these years what will they have to show for it? I hope the international convention center will give them something,” the mayor said. “Mandaue has been very slow in developing itself even though it is a much newer city than Cebu City. I would just like to remind them that I was the one responsible for all the new roads in Mandaue, including A.S. Fortuna, Cabahug and the Mandaue reclamation road. I had to give them garbage trucks. I really wish them well and I hope they will develop,” he said.
No competition
Osmeña said that some people “just like to put us down,” by comparing both reclamations. Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano earlier said there is no competition between Mandaue’s and Cebu City’s reclaimed properties, as all the lots in Mandaue are already sold to different private owners. In an earlier interview, F.F. Cruz and Co. Inc. director for property management Yvonne Gomos said the 200-hectare New Mandaue City is purely a private initiative; only 60 hectares of the total reclaimed area were turned over to the host City Government. “Yeah, it’s all sold but he (Ouano) sold it to people who are not building anything. At least Cebu City owns everything in the SRP. Sure we have utang (debt) but we own it, what does Mandaue own?” Osmeña said.
He also said the SRP will soon have “the most modern sewage treatment plant in Asia, a power plant and a beautiful highway, where one can drive down without seeing a single wire hanging unlike that in Cebu City mainland and other places.” The City is also experimenting on a district cooling system being developed by Hitachi. It is a cooling system that can provide centralized airconditioning in the SRP. “When you build in the SRP, you don’t have to put airconditioning, we will do it for you and bill you at a rate much lower than anywhere else in Asia. If we will be able to do it, we will be the first to have a district cooling system in the country. It’s a kind that Malaysia and the Hong Kong international airport have,” the mayor said.
Landfill gas
Philippine Bio-sciences, Co., an investor, is conducting a test project at the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill. It wants to prove that landfill gas may be collected and used to generate cheap electricity. Once the project is completed, Osmeña said Phil Bio is ready to raise the capital to finance the mini-power plant.
No competition
Osmeña said that some people “just like to put us down,” by comparing both reclamations. Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano earlier said there is no competition between Mandaue’s and Cebu City’s reclaimed properties, as all the lots in Mandaue are already sold to different private owners. In an earlier interview, F.F. Cruz and Co. Inc. director for property management Yvonne Gomos said the 200-hectare New Mandaue City is purely a private initiative; only 60 hectares of the total reclaimed area were turned over to the host City Government. “Yeah, it’s all sold but he (Ouano) sold it to people who are not building anything. At least Cebu City owns everything in the SRP. Sure we have utang (debt) but we own it, what does Mandaue own?” Osmeña said.
He also said the SRP will soon have “the most modern sewage treatment plant in Asia, a power plant and a beautiful highway, where one can drive down without seeing a single wire hanging unlike that in Cebu City mainland and other places.” The City is also experimenting on a district cooling system being developed by Hitachi. It is a cooling system that can provide centralized airconditioning in the SRP. “When you build in the SRP, you don’t have to put airconditioning, we will do it for you and bill you at a rate much lower than anywhere else in Asia. If we will be able to do it, we will be the first to have a district cooling system in the country. It’s a kind that Malaysia and the Hong Kong international airport have,” the mayor said.
Landfill gas
Philippine Bio-sciences, Co., an investor, is conducting a test project at the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill. It wants to prove that landfill gas may be collected and used to generate cheap electricity. Once the project is completed, Osmeña said Phil Bio is ready to raise the capital to finance the mini-power plant.