Stricter approval for reclamation projects

Several proposed reclamation projects, including those put forward in Manila, will be subjected to a stricter approval by the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) and the NEDA board, according to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia.

Last month, NEDA and the PRA signed a joint memorandum circular for the strict

implementation of Executive Order 146, series of 2013 issued by former president Benigno Aquino that transferred to the NEDA board from the PRA the power to approve reclamation projects.

The EO limits the role of the PRA to the evaluation of reclamation projects.

This was meant to respond to public apprehension over the risks posed by reclamation projects and to ensure that reclamation activities are integrated with development planning at the national level

The order was widely supported by the business sector which said it signals a wholistic approach to development.

Before that, in 2006, former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Executive Order 534 delegating the power of the president to approve reclamation projects to the PRA.

Pernia said the order was not strictly enforced before. However, no reclamation projects have been implemented yet with approval only by the PRA.

“It was not practiced before. But now, it’s really going to be enforced. It will be harder to do reclamation projects,” he told reporters in a recent interview.

Several proposed reclamation projects are already up for approval, he said including those positioned in the Manila Bay area with the blessing of Mayor Joseph Estrada.

“There are many projects lined up for approval, like the ones in Manila city,” he said.

At least four reclamation projects in the Manila Bay area have been lined up to transform the coastal sections of the cities of Manila and Pasay into mixed use developments that have components for business, leisure, government centers and hospitals among others.

Pernia said the NEDA board would continue to entertain other proposed reclamation projects under a stricter approval environment.

Before a reclamation project or a reclamation component of a development can be subjected to the NEDA approval process, the PRA board should submit to the NEDA Board Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) a resolution endorsing the project.

NEDA said this would “foster heightened compliance with the approval of reclamation projects and prevent indiscriminate illegal reclamation activities which lack prior NEDA board approval.”

Pernia, who sits as vice chair of the NEDA board, said the stricter evaluation of reclamation projects would strike a balance between promoting economic growth and environmental sustainability.

“Reclamation projects can be good or bad for sustainable development depending on how and to what ends, they have done. So we must strike a balance between the twin goals of economic growth and environmental sustainability,” he said earlier.