‘Continued suspension of Manila Bay projects will affect jobs, revenues’

A PASAY City official yesterday warned lawmakers that millions of jobs and billions of revenues would be lost if the suspension of reclamation projects in Manila Bay continues in the next few years.

Pasay City Administrator Peter Manzano, who represented Pasay City Mayor Emi Calixto in the hearing of the House Committee on Ways and Means, said the Pasay City-backed reclamation projects in Manila Bay can easily generate at least one million jobs from horizontal development and commercial operations alone.

The “Eco-City” endeavor included the 360-hectare reclamation project under a joint venture with SM Smart City Infrastructure and Development Corporation which is 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.

The panel is looking into the economic impact of the suspension of all 22 reclamation projects in Manila Bay pending a review of their compliance with environmental regulations.

The government decision was made amid the alleged questionable grant of permits by the Philippine Reclamation Authority. The projects are now indefinitely suspended pending an ongoing impact assessment by the DENR and a review of the projects’ compliance with the requirements and conditions stated in their environmental permits.

Manzano told the panel chaired by Albay Rep. Joey Salceda that the 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” and that the Eco-City project would provide 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 said. “Once reclamation