Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada said Manila needs more reclamation projects, such as the multibillion-peso Solar City project in Manila Bay—for the city to experience “dramatic” economic growth, saying the capital has no more room for expansion except towards the sea.
Estrada said the city government’s revenue collection has been rising over the last three years, but it is not enough to propel Manila to new economic heights compared to other highly urbanized cities such as Quezon City, Makati, and Taguig.
“As much as we want to, even if our income is steadily increasing, it is not enough to affect a dramatic economic growth, simply because we no longer have available land for future development, except, of course, if we take land from the sea, from Manila Bay,” he said.
Estrada said the only solution is land reclamation, and of the three reclamation projects underway in Manila, the closest to fruition is the Solar City project of the Manila Goldcoast Development Corp.
Billed as a state-of-the-art tourism, commercial and residential district in Manila Bay, Solar City will be built on three reclaimed islands where business centers and an international cruise ship terminal will be put up.
Estrada said reclaiming 148 hectares from Manila Bay will surely expand Manila’s present land area of 42.88 square kilometers, where virtually every square inch is already occupied, mostly by informal settlers.
City Treasurer Rizal Del Rosario backed up Estrada’s claim, saying Manila “is an old, crowded city of 1.7-million people” that needs major rehabilitation and redevelopment.
“Our problem here in Manila, it no longer has sufficient space for expansion to invite new investors. There is no more space,” Del Rosario pointed out.
“What we need is a major taxable economic activity to realize more income. We cannot do so even if we have long-term investment plans. Where will we place them? Binondo, Divisoria are all squatter areas,” he added.
With projects like Solar City, Del Rosario said Manila can easily collect up to P10 billion yearly in real property taxes alone.
When Estrada assumed office in 2013, he said the city’s revenue collection was at P4 billion, going up to P7 billion in 2014, P9 billion in 2015, and P10.6 billion in 2016. Del Rosario attributed it to the mayor’s sound fiscal management.
“But even if we have five to six percent economic growth yearly up to 10 years, this will be the limit. It’s not dramatic [growth], just slowly [increasing],” Del Rosario stressed.
Unlike Quezon City, which has the Araneta Center and the Eastwood business district, Makati with its Central Business District, and Taguig with its Bonifacio Global City, Manila has no revenue-generating major business hub of its own, he added.
“We have no big companies. Most of the businesses we collect taxes from are in Divisoria and Binondo, small retailers and stall holders, just small ones, most of them don’t even pay,” Del Rosario lamented.
The bulk of the city’s annual budget allocation, he added, is spent on social and health services, including hospital modernization. For 2017, Manila has set aside P14.88 billion.
“Our (revenue) increase is mostly because of the inflation rate but our expenses, too, are affected by inflation. It increases slowly unless there is a major redevelopment,” Del Rosario stressed.
