Davao businessmen support Sara’s decision on Mega Harbour deal

DAVAO CITY – The Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII) threw its support behind the decision of City Mayor Sara DuterteCarpio to terminate the joint venture agreement (JVA) that her father, then mayor and now President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, signed last year with Mega Harbour Port and Development Corporation for the construction of the biggest reclamation project in Mindanao.

DCCCII president Ronald Go told in a press conference Monday that he believed that Carpio considered future problems that the project will cause if it pushed through, like traffic congestion and environmental concerns.

He said the private sector remained supportive of Duterte, conserving that she may have foreseen that the big-ticket project could be “counterproductive to the development of the city.”

Go added that traffic problem that the P40-billion Davao Coastline and Port Development Project could bring, contrary to the city’s master development plan.

For one, Go noted that, for one, the city will have to accommodate a huge number of trucks that will be deployed for the Mega Habour project that will surely worsen the traffic condition in the city.

Go said there might also be environmental problems that could arise, considering that the reclamation in the coastal areas could block the city’s major waterways.

He also believed the termination of the business deal between the city government and the port developer will attract the right kind of investments that will be in the best interest of the city.

Environment group Interface Development Interventions (IDIS) acting executive director Chinkie Peliño Golle lauded the decision of the mayor not to proceed with the project.

“I am sure also that she has better plans for the development of the city that will consider the social issues and will ensure environmental sustainability,” she said.

Golle averred that her group had been apprehensive about the project “because of the social and environmental implications in which were not addressed in the committee hearings and content of the ordinance passed by the city council.”

“After all she is the mayor of the city and she should decide for the people and for the future of this city. I believe she has studied this carefully and found valid reasons for her to decide like this. I trust her statement that her decision is for the benefit of the majority of the Dabawenyos,” she added.

Last July 25, Duterte announced that she was terminating the business deal with the port developer.

The mayor said her decision was carefully reviewed and studied “after weighing out the intentions of the project against its commercial viability, legal and social implications, and the project’s possible effects to the environment.”