Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada has signed an agreement with a Chinese real estate developer to provide a major mass housing project for 7,000 squatter families living in esteros and other high-risk areas.
Estrada said it is high time the city’s informal settler families or ISFs be given decent and safer shelter, as they are always vulnerable to danger during bad weather, especially in times of strong typhoons and flash floods.
“We will be putting them in a much better situation than where they are now,” Estrada said last Thursday after signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Shanghai Nanjiang (Group) Co., LTD. executive vice president Wang Xiaogang for a six-month feasibility study concerning the urban housing situation in Manila.
The Chinese real estate developer has signed similar agreements with the cities of Makati, Parañaque, and Caloocan.
Depending on the results of the study, the Shanghai-based firm will commit to put up low-cost housing projects in the city, including the possibility of reclaiming a portion of Manila Bay, through a joint venture agreement with the city government.
“At no cost to us, Shanghai Nanjiang will seriously study the issue of ISFs in the City of Manila. Through their help and cooperation, we hope to finally see the end of our housing problem, and improve the lives of those hapless families living in esteros,” Estrada said.
Manila has about 7,000 ISFs living in “danger zones” such as esteros and other waterways, according to the city’s Urban Settlements Office chief Danny Isiderio. The number does not include thousands more who are occupying government- and privately-owned lots across the city.
According to the Metro Manila Development Authority, 10 esteros and creeks in the National Capital Region, mostly in Manila, have been completely taken over by hundreds of thousands of squatter families, worsening pollution and flooding problems in the metropolis.
Estrada said Shanghai Group has vast technical capability and experience in real estate, having developed many residential communities, private resort-luxury villas, and hotel-serviced community complexes in China and other countries like Mongolia, Tibet, Mexico, Africa, and Australia.
“As you know, the City of Manila no longer has enough land where we could relocate our informal settlers, but through Shanghai Nanjiang’s expertise, they may be able to recommend doable options to address this problem effectively,” Estrada said.
Wang said any housing projects they may recommend to the city government will have to be reconcile with Estrada’s policies: (1) priority to “in-city” relocation; (2) no relocation, no demolition, and; (3) the relocation should be close to the ISFs’ source of livelihood.
“We will consider the local requirements as to what could be built,” the mayor said. “Maybe we can find some land, use our own money, put up the buildings first, then we relocate the people.”
As to a possible reclamation in Manila Bay, the Chinese executive said: “Everything is possible but we have to make this study first.”
Among the other options is the construction of medium-rise buildings within or close to the city limits to accommodate as many ISFs as possible, he pointed out.
For City Secretary Edward Serapio, the six-month study “is about how to best address the problem of informal settlers” in the city.
“It’s a cooperation between the City of Manila and Shanghai Group. If the results and recommendations of the study are favorable and approved by the City Mayor, subsequently, they will even propose to do the project under a JVA,” he explained.
Urban housing has been Estrada’s top priority since being elected in 2013. He has awarded 257 families with their own lots under his “Land for the Landless” program.
More importantly, he has relocated thousands of ISFs away from the city’s esteros and creeks in cooperation with the National Housing Authority and other concerned government agencies.
Estrada inaugurated last year his P44.5-million housing village in Sitio Dubai, Baseco Compound where at least 32 “poorest of the poor” families in the impoverished community have been given their own house and lots.