Name of Client:
SM Smart City Infrastructure Development Corporation (SM SCIDC) and Pasay Harbor City Corporation (PHCC)
Country:
Philippines
Length of Consultancy Assignment:
Start Date: August 2021
Completion Date: October 2022
Detailed Narrative Description of Project:
The proposed reclamation project covers 265 hectares (ha) involving two islands with 210 ha and 55 ha within the municipal waters (territorial jurisdiction) for Pasay Harbor City Corporation (PHCC) and an adjacent 360 ha (three-island configuration) for SM SCIDC. Both projects are designed as “smart city–new town development” fully master-planned community that will accommodate office-residential-commercial in a high-density mixed-use development concept. A couple of areas were designated as institutional but there would be no industrial activity within the reclaimed area. Both projects will devote 5% of the total reclaimed area per island to green (urban forest) zones as mandated by the Philippine Reclamation Authority. The project has five specific objectives: (i) to provide development guidelines in order to prevent unregulated development in the newly reclaimed areas, expanded shore areas and regulate parcel use of the municipal waters consistent with the 2016 Supreme Court Continuing Mandamus; (ii) to provide development guidelines in order to mitigate if not totally eliminate the risk of the reclamation projects in Pasay City to the Las Piñas–Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area now called the Las Piñas–Parañaque Wetland Park, consistent with the pertinent provisions under the Expanded NIPAS Act of 2018 (RA 11038); (iii) to recommend specific methodology, appropriate species and design guidelines for the introduction (creation) of a mangrove forest within water channel in the reclamation projects; (iv) to determine and recommend the specific type of flora and fauna and provide design guidelines for the construction of wildlife habitats for areas as determined in the master development plans of reclamation projects; and (v) to specify natural methods of shore protection, other marine protection and preservation related activities for environmental sustainability and climate change adaptability as deemed necessary.
PRIMEX has fielded a team of five consultants, namely: (i) Fisheries Specialist/Team Leader; (ii) Information, Education, and Communication Specialist; (iii) Communication Specialist; (iv) Marine Fauna/Marine Biologist; and (v) Mangrove Specialist. The Team is expected to deliver the following outputs: (i) Sustainable Coastal Eco-System Management Plan (SCEMP) in support of the Coastal Land and Sea Plan and will serve as the Pasay City Environmental Master Plan for the Reclaimed Areas and Coastal Waters; (ii) Pasay City Operational Plan for the Manila Bay Coastal Strategy 2021-2034 consistent with ECC Conditions and the SC Continuing Mandamus; (iii) Development Guidelines for the Sustainable Environmental Design of the Reclamation Areas and Coastal and Marine Ecosystems; (iv) Reports/plans that will implement the SM360 and PHCC 265 ECC Conditions and the 12 October 2020 Pasay-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Memorandum of Agreement (MOA); and (v) Technical Report in Compliance with the BFAR-Pasay MOA (Program for the implementation of the BFAR-Pasay MOA).