Firm asked to show Manila Bay reclamation can survive storm surges

By: Erika Sauler - 11 years ago

Birds feed at the Las Piñas-Parañaque Coastal Lagoon in Manila Bay. A reclamation project threatens to destroy the nature reserve and bird sanctuary. AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Can they withstand another “supertyphoon Yolanda” (international name Haiyan)?

Proponents of a Manila Bay reclamation project have been confronted with this question by environmentalists who fear that even multimillion-peso developments that alter natural coastlines can’t offer safety and may actually endanger lives in the face of intensifying typhoons and storm surges.

As one critic put it, it’s like having a bulge, an “artificial erection,” that counter Nature’s preference for straight coastlines.

In a public hearing held in Tondo, Manila, on Monday, representatives of the Manila Goldcoast Development Corp. allayed fears that the project would be courting catastrophe similar to what happened in Tacloban City, saying it would have five-meter sea walls designed to block killer waves of Yolanda’s scale.

Such show of confidence, however, was challenged by a marine geology expert who said it would be difficult to engineer an effective defense against storm surges due to the lack of a comprehensive data on them.

The threat of storm surges was raised during the public hearing held by various stakeholders on Goldcoast’s pending application for an environmental compliance certificate (ECC), a crucial government requirement for its 148-hectare reclamation project called Solar City.

A storm surge is an abnormal rise in water level caused primarily by strong winds due to the presence of a typhoon or hurricane. Tacloban City and other parts of Visayas suffered the wrath of storm surges unleashed by Yolanda, in the form of five to six-meter high walls of water that came crashing on coastal settlements and deep into urban centers. In 2011, Manila was also battered by a storm surge caused by Typhoon “Pedring”.

“If reclamation is done properly, it can actually help the coastline be resilient to storm surges,” said Blair Spendelow, section head for marine modeling of DHI Singapore, an independent environmental consultant hired by Goldcoast to assess the impact of reclamation and identify engineering solutions against floods and storm surges.

But Kelvin Rodolfo, professor emeritus of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at University of Illinois in Chicago, said: “How can you properly engineer if you don’t know the forces you are trying to contain?”

”Even if you know now what you’re up against, what is it going to be like 20 or 30 years from now?” he added.

Rodolfo, one of the scientists who worked on Project Noah’s storm surge mapping project, stressed that typhoons had been increasing in strength through the years.

“The problem is, they’re thinking of profits and not concerned with what happens afterwards. They don’t care about the potential loss in lives,” he said.

In a video shown during the hearing, Manila Archbishop Luis Cardinal Tagle cited the importance of good governance and stewardship in the use of resources for the common good.

“It’s not enough reason to build the project just to reap profits for a few,” the prelate said in Filipino.

Underscoring the income and jobs that the Solar City would generate, the Goldcoast presentation cited successful reclamation projects in other countries.

But Rodolfo said that unlike those in the Philippines, almost all the examples were located far from seismic faults.

Goldcoast entered into a contract with the City of Manila under then Mayor Alfredo Lim to reclaim and develop parts of Manila Bay. Should the company secure an ECC from the DENR, the project proposal will be reviewed by the Office of the President and then sent back to the Philippine Reclamation Authority.

The public hearing started with a video of Vice Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso expressing support for the project as a solution to the city’s budget deficit and need for job creation.

But former Manila Mayor and now Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza objected to the flow of the program, which he said turned the supposed discussion of environmental issues into a “sales pitch.”

The rest of the proceedings was marked by tension as critics turned emotional in disputing the points raised by Goldcoast.

“We don’t want to listen to the details of the contract. We want DENR-EMB (Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Environmental Management Bureau) to listen to the positions of the crowd gathered here against reclamation,” said Atienza, a former DENR secretary and three-term Manila mayor who opposed the reclamation project.

Goldcoast vice chair Edmundo Lim said SM Mall of Asia, which stood on reclaimed land in Pasay City, was not flooded during the onslaught of Pedring in 2011 because a Belgian company put up seawalls with wave reflectors, unlike the areas of Roxas Boulevard, US Embassy and Sofitel hotel, which had no proper sea wall.

Edmundo Lim said the future Solar City would have sea walls as high as five meters and the buildings would be strong enough to withstand an Intensity 8 earthquake.

“If we design buildings in such a way that water can move around the building, it won’t be flooded,” Spendelow added.

But Rodolfo countered: “All of the earlier reclamation projects worsened flooding, how can this be any different? Water wants to flow to the sea, if you have buildings in the way, you’re making it harder for water to flow to the sea.”

“Goldcoast proposes to challenge Nature, to change the shoreline by bulging out into the sea with an artificial erection. Mother Nature will respond by ceaselessly wearing it away,” Rodolfo said.

Nature wants to make straight shorelines, according to Rodolfo.

The public hearing ended with the opposing groups requesting a continuation. The results would be submitted to the EMB.