BACOLOD City – The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) committee on laws, ordinances, and good government will schedule another public hearing on the request to reclaim 25 hectares more at the reclamation area in this city after some issues were raised.
The Bacolod Real Estate Development Corporation (BREDCO) has expressed its intention to reclaim additional areas for development under the re-planning and re-engineering of its port operations.
Councilor Al Victor Espino, committee chairperson, questioned on Tuesday, Oct. 3, why, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), BREDCO has already had the Miscellaneous Sales Application and Miscellaneous Lease Application issued by the national government without passing through the city council and the city government.
“This has to be approved by the city before the requirements shall be issued. Kon wala, dapat indi mahatagan,” he claimed. “Since they have approval from the DENR, we are further looking into that.”
Another issue raised was about the road fees. According to the SP, 30 percent of the total reclaimed area is accorded to roads and the roads under the Tripartite Memorandum Agreement (TMA) between the city, BREDCO and the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA).
“Why are they (BEDCO) the ones soliciting the road fees when, in fact, they should be under the local government?” the councilor asked.
BREDCO legal counsel Joselito Bayatan explained that the matter, raised then by Engr. Efraem Hechanova of the City Engineering Office, had already been discussed in a meeting on May 18 this year, with the Technical Working Group committee of the city government, PRA and BREDCO.
“BREDCO is expecting that this will entail the amendment of the Comprehensive Revised Reclamation Agreement entered into by the city and BREDCO on March 16, 1995, and the subsequent TMA entered into on March 18, 2000,” Bayatan said./PN
