Private sector pushes Mega Cebu masterplan

CEBU, Philippines - Not withstanding political boundaries and differences, the private sector in Cebu is leading towards pushing the 30-year masterplan “Mega Cebu”, putting the metropolis to the world map of top cities in the world.“The private sector is pushing very hard—speaking as one voice for the development of Metro Cebu,” said Cebu Business Club president Gordon Alan Joseph, who is also an active player of the Metro Cebu Development Coordinating Board (MCDCB).

The MCDCB was established last year, led by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation (RAFI) and six large private sector groups like CBC, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), among others, with plans and goals fully supported by IBM.

Joseph, who is also the private sector representative and chairman of the Integrated Development and Planning Committee of the MCDCB, said that ongoing works have been in place to start off with the master-plan.

Aside from the six large organizations that are actively part of the MCDCB, there are also 14 local government units (LGUs) that have committed to participate in this plan to start off the project that brings “urban renewal” while Metro Cebu is showing signs of “urban decay.”

The Mega Cebu project, involves an integrated masterplan that will make greater Cebu, from Car-Car in the South, to Danao in the north, a world-class metropolitan region.

Supported by IBM Philippines, through its Smart City campaign, this movement is seen to change Cebu’s landscape in the next 30 years, benchmarking the successful mega regions in Canada, like Vancouver which applied also applied this concept.

“Politics may change, but business stays the same,” said Joseph. Thus, there is a need for a strong collaborative efforts from the political leaders specifically from Mayors of the identified cities and municipalities.

According to Joseph, the group will also encourage the large civil society to strongly participate in this advocacy, thereby convincing politicians all across political parties to support in this project.

He said MCDCB believes that there are people in Cebu who are willing to put their hands in their pockets in name of pushing Cebu forward in the international map.

Strongly supported by IBM’s Smarter city initiative which treats the city as an ecosystem composed of multiple subsystems to manage transportation, healthcare, public safety, government services, energy, commerce, communications, and water resources, the project is expected to make Metro Cebu as one of the most livable cities in the world in the long term.

A smarter city enables information sharing and collaboration among different municipal governmental agencies and systems, so that resources are used rationally, decisions are made that best benefit city development and management, and emergencies and disasters are predicted and dealt with in the shortest possible time.

From 1995 to 2010 the population growth in Metro Cebu grew by 50 percent, from a total of 1.63 million population count in 1995, to 2.5 million living in the Metropolis in 2010. Basing on the current population growth rate, population count is seen to hit 4.27 million by 2030.

While Cebu has not been able to keep up with its growth over the years, with the absence of good collaborative masterplanning, MCDCB is moving forward to take good care of Cebu’s potential for growth.