Master plan needed for ‘Mega Cebu’

A 30-year horizon to develop a “Mega Cebu” was described by businessman Roberto E. Aboitiz in a meeting of the Rotary Club of Cebu West in the Radisson Blu Hotel last Tuesday.

Aboitiz said this can be achieved through collaboration of the private sector and government in the Metro Cebu Development Coordinating Board (MCDB).

He said Cebu can move forward and become a “mega city” like Vancouver in Canada guided by a unified master plan.

“Success is no accident. It’s a planned journey and the future does not belong to the small, unprepared, incoherent and divided cities,” said the president of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc.

The MCDCB is chaired by Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.

Aboitiz said that to achieve this goal, proper planning and decision making in the public sector side should go beyond city boundaries of the 13 citizes and towns from Carcar City in the south to Danao City in the north.

Aboitiz said seven businessmen sit in the MCDB : James Velasquez, country general manager of IBM Philippines; Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Samuel Chioson; Cebu Business Club president Gordon Alan Joseph; Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Eric Ng Mendoza; Cebu Leads Foundation president Bunny Pages; Felomino Lim of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and himself.

“The group will serve as an informal organization with a common, integrated goal for Cebu. We will be looking at areas for collaboration and help make the development plan for Mega Cebu,” said Aboitiz.

The role of business is to contribute “capital, technology and enterprise,” while the government provides the “planning, enabling environment and resources.” Civil society, meanwhile, is the source of “aspirations, obligations, participation and citizenship.”

Aboitiz said a Land Use Master Plan, Transport Master Plan and other sector master plans are crucial elements.

He said MCDB and its committees and working groups would be insitutional anchors, while RAFI will facilite the whole process, provide research and act as knowledge repository, and handle program and organizational development.

The vision for Metro Cebu would have a 25 to 30 year timeframe.

Crafting this vision and engaing political leaders to take necessary steps will be undertaken in the next six to 10 months. It will take 30-36 months starting April or Augut 2012 to develop the econominc roadmap and generate political, financial and technical support.

Then the task of lobbying support for projects and regional networking will take another 18 to 24 months starting October 2014 or April 2015.

Aboitiz spoke of the need to “re-think Metro Cebu” as a “city region” where planning and development of cities and towns is integrated even as each locality maintains its own geo-political integrity.

Examples given were Curitiba in Brazil and Shanghai, China.

Aboitiz said recommendations will be submitted to the government leaders for implementation.

“To achieve the Mega Cebu vision, all the government leaders of the 13 cities and members of civil society and business groups should come together and collaborate to come up with a more integrated and inclusive development plan for Metro Cebu,” said Aboitiz.

Some areas for collaboration are transport and traffic management, infrastrcuture and utilties, environment and health, public safety and seucrity.

The board is also open for more volunteer business and civic organizations to join committees for each area.

Metro Cebu’s population will reach 7.27 million in 2050 or an expected 12.09 million total population in Cebu.

The Philippines ranks 85 out of 139 countries in the world competitive index, falling behind Asian neighbors such as Singapore at rank 3, Malaysia at rank 26, Thailand at rank 38, Indonesia at rank 44 and Vietnam at rank 59.

“We will have the manpower. All we need is the support infrastructure that will make investors see us as the best place to invest. In order to do that we need a master plan. We need to come together to create that master plan and realize that goal and catch up with all the other most sought after cities in the world,” Aboitiz said.

In foreign direct investments, the Philippines only had $1.7 billion last year which is small compared to Singapore’s $37.4 billion, Thailand’s $6.8 billion, Malaysia’s $7 billion, Vietnam’s $11 billion and Indonesia’s $12.8 billion.