Ciudad hearing moved after DENR reps’ no-show

BECAUSE of the failure of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to send representatives, the scheduled public hearing on the Ciudad project was postponed to Nov. 22.

Rep. Tomas Osmeña (Cebu City south district), Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young and members of the Cebu City Council were present for the scheduled hearing at the covered court of barangay Apas.

The public hearing is for Fifth Avenue Development Corp.’s application for Environment Compliance Certificate (ECC) for its Ciudad project.

Also yesterday, Fifth Avenue presented in a press conference its traffic plan to ensure that their development will not worsen the traffic situation in the area.

Rep. Osmeña has been vocal against the project and one of his complaints is the traffic congestion on the Banilad-Talamban corridor.

He believes that the development will worsen the situation in the area.

Ciudad is a proposed P1.2-billion commercial establishment to be constructed in a 2.8-hectare lot owned by the Cebu provincial government. The establishment will have a museum, restaurants and department stores and will showcase Cebu’s heritage. It is expected to earn P300 million a year. It was supposed to be constructed in 2005 but when the relationship of Osmeña who was then Cebu City mayor and Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia turned sour, Osmeña expressed his vehement opposition to the project.

The city did not issue building permit for the project and it passed an ordinance banning any development on the Ban-Tal corridor.

But the project was revived when Mayor Michael Rama took over as the chief executive of Cebu City.

During yesterday’s press con, Fifth Avenue Development Corp. executive vice president Michael Lloyd Dino said the traffic concerns should not hinder the city from moving forward.

The developer also promised to construct roads for the city, which would mean a savings of around P280 million.

Aside from that, Ciudad developers also promise to provide jobs to hundreds of city residents.

“Ciudad will be fully funded by the private sector. They have nothing to lose, only to gain,” Dino said.

But Osmeña does not believe Fifth Avenue’s promise to provide jobs and decongest traffic in the Ban-Tal corridor.

He said the program of work it submitted to the provincial government had no allocation for the road opening.

He pointed out that a single resto bar that used to operate in the area caused tremendous traffic.

“How much more road congestion will it cause when construction begins for a large-scale development such as Ciudad?” Osmeña asked.

Osmeña also said Fifth Avenue is giving false hopes when it promised to create 2,800 jobs for barangay Apas residents because the developer couldn’t dictate businesses to hire just those applicants from the barangay.  CORRESPONDENT KATREENA BISNAR