San Fernando, Pampanga—The city government has stopped the multibillion-peso project involving the conversion of the former Pampanga Sugar Development Corporation Inc. into a modern township effective Monday.
Mayor Edwin D. Santiago said he ordered the halt of the project, called Capital Town, because of the failure of the developer to protect the city against traffic and flooding which are the two problems facing the city in the 21st century.
The P1.8-billion project of Megaworld Corp. on the 35.6-hectare Pasudeco lot was approved by the city council headed by Vice Mayor Jimmy Lazatin.
Santiago said the project, which started its ground development this year, had no sufficient flood control features like drainage that will protect and prevent the flooding of the city proper—including the city hall, the provincial capitol, and several villages surrounding the project.
The mayor said the developer plans to dump its sewerage and wastewater into the heavily silted San Fernando River, which residents, barangay and city officials strongly oppose.
“Its underground water containment is too small for the project,” he said.
According to the mayor, the other failure of Megaworld is not opening a new road network to serve the complex, widening of other roads leading to it, and development of a children’s park.
“With these kinds of violations, I cannot allow the project to continue,” Santiago stressed.
He also clarified that San Fernando welcomes and recognizes the investor’s contributions in the city in terms of employment and additional taxes, but not “at the expense of the people’s interest and convenience.”
The city continues to attract investors and businessmen in the area because of its strategic location as the regional center of Central Luzon. It has a total population of 320,000, but this increases to 1.2 million during office hours, Santiago explained.
At present, the capitol road in Barangay Sto. Nino, about 1.5 kilometers from the city proper, is becoming a bottleneck during rush hours, especially in the afternoon, as city and capitol employees converge in the same road going out of the city proper.
Santiago also warned that he will implement a “no garage, no permit” policy for those constructing new houses and repairing old ones, including business establishments, to prevent traffic congestion in the city.
“Some people will construct or repair their houses and business establishments and park their cars in the road, eating up sidewalks intended for pedestrians,” the mayor said.
Actual construction of Capital town will start in the second half of 2020 and will be finished 2022 with a budget of P30 billion, Megaworld said in a statement last week.
Under the plan, the project includes a residential condominium, an office tower, civic and institutional facilities, a mall, retail shops, a cinema, hotel, water park, museum, and other amenities of modern living.