After two years, the proposed Malaysian-led P25-billion reclamation project in Davao City has still to get the approval of the Philippine Reclamation Authority and the National Economic Development Authority.
Davao City Investment Promotion Center head Ivan Cortez said project proponent Mercury Group of Malaysia is seeking a meeting with Mayor Sara Duterte to thresh out the feasibility of the project.
“This project was approved by then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in 2014. We feel that this is important since it will improve downtown Davao and will generate more investments as development sets in,” Cortez said in a forum with the Makati Business Council and the US-Asean Business Council (US-ABC) held Thursday at Shang at The Fort.
The proposal has been pending for the last two years after failing to get the green light from the PRA and the Neda.
Cortez said the project cost of P25 billion covers only the reclamation and the Malaysian investors are still looking for a local partner “cognizant of our limitations when it comes to foreign ownership.”
The Investment Center has yet to estimate the development costs after reclamation.
The first phase of the project is estimated to reclaim part of the Davao Gulf and the Davao River where at least 3,000 households of illegal settlers are residing.
Part of the project is to relocate the informal settlers to an area “not far from their source of income.”
“The illegal settlers have already occupied the shoreline by building houses on stilts,” said Cortez.
He added that a group of Korean investors have expressed interest in doing reclamation work on the two rivers straddling both sides of the Davao Gulf.
The Mindanao Business Council has made a pitch to members of the US-ABC to consider Mindanao as an important investment destination in the Philippines.
Investment opportunities in Mindanao are mostly agriculture-based, agro-industrial, real estate and business process management.