House of Representatives (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

The Manila Bay reclamation projects being pushed by the local government of Pasay City will result to the creation of over a million jobs from horizontal development and commercial operations alone.

Pasay City Administrator Peter Manzano highlighted this figure and more during a briefing Thursday morning, Nov. 23 of 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 those under the Pasay Eco-City Coastal Development Projects. 

The Eco-City endeavor includes the 360-hectare reclamation project under a joint venture with SM Smart City Infrastructure and Development Corporation, which has been 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," Manzano said in his presentation before the House panel chaired by Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda. 

But in its totality, 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", said Manzano. 

He noted 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, while 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. 

Based on masterplans Eco-City will feature eco-friendly and modern commercial, institutional, and residential spaces highlighted by blue and green infrastructures, such as green parks, mini forests, and mangrove corridors. Leading and internationally-renowned firms have been tapped to carry out engineering design, master planning, environmental management, and reclamation works. 

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 Congressman 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." 

The other component of Eco-City is the 265-hectare reclamation project under a joint venture with the Pasay Harbor City Consortium. 

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.