The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will push through with the “repair and strengthening” of the heavily damaged seawall behind the Coconut Palace and Folk Arts Theater in the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex despite real estate firm Manila Goldcoast Development Corp.’s (MGDC) plan to turn a 148-hectare portion of Manila Bay into a commercial, business, residential and tourism hub to be called “Solar City.”
This was disclosed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Sunday by Reynaldo Tagudando, director of the DPWH-National Capital Region, who said they were
“just waiting for the funds to start the project.”
The DPWH has allocated P40 million for the rehabilitation of the 100-meter seawall which has been in a bad state for over a year now.
Citing news reports, Tagudando said they were aware of the proposed Manila Bay reclamation project which covers the CCP complex seawall.
But he said Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson had instructed them to “finish the CCP complex seawall project as soon as possible.”
Singson “did not say anything about the proposed Manila Bay reclamation project,” Tagudando added.
MGDC top officials have expressed confidence that by 2015 or 2016, they could start the bay reclamation project and use land reclamation as a “front door to urban development” in Manila, the country’s capital city.
With a frontage of 635 meters parallel to Roxas Boulevard, the Solar City project will occupy less than 0.082 percent of the bay’s total surface area of 1,800-square kilometers.
In a phone interview, Tagudando also said the agency was “finally done with the strengthening of the newly-constructed Roxas Boulevard seawall” which is 1.35 kilometers long.
Construction of the seawall reached P94 million, far above the initial estimate of P81 million.
“The increase was largely due to the additional work that made the seawall structure bigger and stronger,” he explained, noting the new seawall was not just reinforced by steel bars.
Rizal Park authorities earlier requested the DPWH to repair the seawall behind Museo Pambata up to the Manila Hotel area, Tagudando said.