Date: July 06, 2007
An ambitious plan to turn Sangley Point in Cavite into an air and sea transport hub has been revived by Malacanang, with eight government agencies having been ordered to carry out the project, which could involve reclaiming as much as 4,000 hectares of land from the sea at the cost of P80 billion.
Executive Order 629, signed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last June 21, directed the Philippine Reclamation Authority to convert the former US Naval Station into "an international logistics hub with [a] modern seaport and airport [through] an enabling reclamation component."
Parts of the narrow strip of land, now occupied by the Air Force and the Navy, will be turned into a special economic zone housing "cyber or technoparks."
The reclamation agency was tasked to head a committee that will evaluate proposals from the private sector and conduct a selection or bidding process, as well as obtain titles for the land reclaimed.
"The viability of the project to a large extent will be enhanced by the enabling reclamation in the portions of Bacoor and Canacao Bays to provide a significant expansion district to the limited land area of Cavite City," the President said in her order.
Theron V. Lacson, deputy general manager of the reclamation authority, said the project could involve reclaiming 2,000 to 4,000 hectares at a minimum P2,000 per square meter. This does not include development costs.
The executive committee has been instructed to prepare a masterplan and a feasibility study, and following procedures, proposals for a joint venture or a build-operate-transfer scheme could be accepted in a year, he said.
Aside from the reclamation agency, the committee members include the Transportation and Communications, National Defense, Trade and Industry, Environment and Natural Resources, and Public Works and Highways departments; the National Economic and Development Authority; and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority. A representative of the Cavite City mayor sits as co-chairman.
Mr. Lacson told BusinessWorld the Sangley Point hub would be viable with a seven-kilometer extension of the Manila-Cavite Coastal Road to Kawit town from Baclaran in Paranaque expected to be completed by 2008. "We want the project to be investment-grade, something that will attract investors to make a serious study of the proposal," he said.
The executive order was signed just three days after a Chinese shipping giant announced plans to invest $3 billion for a shipping complex at Sangley Point that could generate 100,000 new jobs. China Ocean Shipping Group Co. CEO Wei Jia Fu made the announcement following a courtesy call to Mrs. Arroyo. Officials said an agreement could be signed in August when the President visits China.
Mr. Lacson said the Sangley Point project is "grandiose" and that all interested investors can have a piece of it. "The will be double the size of the existing reclamation projects that we have," he said, referring to the Manila Bay Reclamation Area in Pasay. The air and sea transport hub will be able to accommodate big ships, with the port having a depth of at least 10 meters. The airport will have two or three runways.
Sangley Point will decongest the Manila airport and solve several problems such as height limitations, with the extended Coastal Road cutting travel time to 20 minutes, Mr. Lacson added. The Revilla family campaigned fiercely for the project, proposed by Sen. Ramon B. Revilla, Jr. when he was Cavite governor. His father, former senator Ramon B. Revilla, Sr., is chairman of the Philippine Reclamation Authority.
The Ramos administration shelved the project in 1994 due to financial and technical constraints, following a Japan International Cooperation Agency-funded study that found that the area was not the best location for an international port due to heavy siltation. Massive dredging will be required to deepen shallow areas before international vessels can be accommodated, the study showed.
The Estrada administration, meanwhile, wanted the Manila international airport moved to Sangley.
Under Mrs. Arroyo, a go-signal had been given for a "modern shipping and air transport support facility" as early as 2002. Sought for comment, officials of Clark airport and Batangas Port said they were not worried that the Sangley Point project would eclipse their own plans to establish big transport hubs.
"That [executive order] is only for shipping and not for aviation," Clark International Airport Corp. President and Chief Executive Victor Jose I. Luciano claimed. And even if there is a plan to make Sangley Point as another aviation hub, Mr. Luciano said the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Pampanga is still bigger than Sangley Point. "That area is small," he claimed.
The 2,400-hectare airport in Clark is said to be one of the biggest in Asia, with two 3.2-kilometer parallel runways that can be extended to four kilometers. The airport is four times bigger than the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. Mr. Lacson said accessibility will be the main advantage of Sangley Point, as vehicles going to and from Clark would have to contend with heavy traffic on EDSA and Balintawak in Quezon City.
For Philippine Ports Authority assistant general manager Claro V. Maranan, Sangley Point would not directly compete with the Batangas Port. Once privatized, the ports authority wants Batangas Port to get as much as 40% share of Metro Manila's shipping traffic by 2008 and become a "world-class facility" by 2010.
"Cavite is a booming industrial zone, it's a potential market already," he said.
He said that when Malacanang asked for comments on the Sangley Point plan, the regulatory agency made no objection. "There was no objection from us because we have no future plans for Sangley Point. It better run by a private operator," Mr. Maranan said.
Executive Order 629, signed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last June 21, directed the Philippine Reclamation Authority to convert the former US Naval Station into "an international logistics hub with [a] modern seaport and airport [through] an enabling reclamation component."
Parts of the narrow strip of land, now occupied by the Air Force and the Navy, will be turned into a special economic zone housing "cyber or technoparks."
The reclamation agency was tasked to head a committee that will evaluate proposals from the private sector and conduct a selection or bidding process, as well as obtain titles for the land reclaimed.
"The viability of the project to a large extent will be enhanced by the enabling reclamation in the portions of Bacoor and Canacao Bays to provide a significant expansion district to the limited land area of Cavite City," the President said in her order.
Theron V. Lacson, deputy general manager of the reclamation authority, said the project could involve reclaiming 2,000 to 4,000 hectares at a minimum P2,000 per square meter. This does not include development costs.
The executive committee has been instructed to prepare a masterplan and a feasibility study, and following procedures, proposals for a joint venture or a build-operate-transfer scheme could be accepted in a year, he said.
Aside from the reclamation agency, the committee members include the Transportation and Communications, National Defense, Trade and Industry, Environment and Natural Resources, and Public Works and Highways departments; the National Economic and Development Authority; and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority. A representative of the Cavite City mayor sits as co-chairman.
Mr. Lacson told BusinessWorld the Sangley Point hub would be viable with a seven-kilometer extension of the Manila-Cavite Coastal Road to Kawit town from Baclaran in Paranaque expected to be completed by 2008. "We want the project to be investment-grade, something that will attract investors to make a serious study of the proposal," he said.
The executive order was signed just three days after a Chinese shipping giant announced plans to invest $3 billion for a shipping complex at Sangley Point that could generate 100,000 new jobs. China Ocean Shipping Group Co. CEO Wei Jia Fu made the announcement following a courtesy call to Mrs. Arroyo. Officials said an agreement could be signed in August when the President visits China.
Mr. Lacson said the Sangley Point project is "grandiose" and that all interested investors can have a piece of it. "The will be double the size of the existing reclamation projects that we have," he said, referring to the Manila Bay Reclamation Area in Pasay. The air and sea transport hub will be able to accommodate big ships, with the port having a depth of at least 10 meters. The airport will have two or three runways.
Sangley Point will decongest the Manila airport and solve several problems such as height limitations, with the extended Coastal Road cutting travel time to 20 minutes, Mr. Lacson added. The Revilla family campaigned fiercely for the project, proposed by Sen. Ramon B. Revilla, Jr. when he was Cavite governor. His father, former senator Ramon B. Revilla, Sr., is chairman of the Philippine Reclamation Authority.
The Ramos administration shelved the project in 1994 due to financial and technical constraints, following a Japan International Cooperation Agency-funded study that found that the area was not the best location for an international port due to heavy siltation. Massive dredging will be required to deepen shallow areas before international vessels can be accommodated, the study showed.
The Estrada administration, meanwhile, wanted the Manila international airport moved to Sangley.
Under Mrs. Arroyo, a go-signal had been given for a "modern shipping and air transport support facility" as early as 2002. Sought for comment, officials of Clark airport and Batangas Port said they were not worried that the Sangley Point project would eclipse their own plans to establish big transport hubs.
"That [executive order] is only for shipping and not for aviation," Clark International Airport Corp. President and Chief Executive Victor Jose I. Luciano claimed. And even if there is a plan to make Sangley Point as another aviation hub, Mr. Luciano said the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Pampanga is still bigger than Sangley Point. "That area is small," he claimed.
The 2,400-hectare airport in Clark is said to be one of the biggest in Asia, with two 3.2-kilometer parallel runways that can be extended to four kilometers. The airport is four times bigger than the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. Mr. Lacson said accessibility will be the main advantage of Sangley Point, as vehicles going to and from Clark would have to contend with heavy traffic on EDSA and Balintawak in Quezon City.
For Philippine Ports Authority assistant general manager Claro V. Maranan, Sangley Point would not directly compete with the Batangas Port. Once privatized, the ports authority wants Batangas Port to get as much as 40% share of Metro Manila's shipping traffic by 2008 and become a "world-class facility" by 2010.
"Cavite is a booming industrial zone, it's a potential market already," he said.
He said that when Malacanang asked for comments on the Sangley Point plan, the regulatory agency made no objection. "There was no objection from us because we have no future plans for Sangley Point. It better run by a private operator," Mr. Maranan said.
