Rama to prioritize issuance of permit for Ciudad project

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama has vowed to prioritize the issuance of permits to the developer of the P2.8-hectare, province-owned lot in Barangay Banilad.

This was after the Cebu Provincial Board authorized Governor Hilario Davide III to sign and execute an amended build-transfer-operate agreement with Fifth Avenue Development Corporation.

The P1.2 billion Ciudad project is eyed as a mixed-used development on the province-owned lot located in Cebu City.

“Anything that is generating employment, it is always good for Cebu City, Province of Cebu, and the whole country,” Rama said in a telephone interview yesterday.

He said, though, that the developer should comply with all the required permits from the city government like business, locational, and building permits, among others.

He admitted that the first time the Ciudad project was proposed when he was still vice mayor, he was was not in favor of it.

“Remember, as the vice mayor, I was only presiding. But deep in my heart, I have never been into stopping any business opportunities for as long as they will all comply vis-a-vis the necessity and the rule of law when it comes to business permits,” he said.

Sometime in 2007, the City Council, with Rama as the presiding officer, issued a moratorium to any development in the Banilad-Talamban area to prevent traffic congestion there.

This moratorium contributed to the delay in the implementation of the project.

Rama said the moratorium is no longer in effect since a new set of members of the City Council have been elected and he is now the head of the executive department.

“Humana to. Dili man to ordinance. Resolution raman to. Wala ra to. Ang resolution, sentimento ra na, dili na balaod. That resolution should stop (being effective) because a new mayor and a new set (of City Council members) have been elected; and that the (chief) executive is not anti-development,” he said.

Rama said it was former Mayor Tomas Osmeña who has long opposed the project, saying it would worsen traffic in the area. — (FREEMAN)