Mandaue's balance between growth, environmental protection impresses APEC exec

CEBU, Philippines - The plans and projects of Mandaue City that help keep the balance of the city's economic development impressed a delegate of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings as he visited the city yesterday.

According to Pengcheng Li, secretary of the Resource and Environment Branch of China National Institute of Standardization, he saw the "best practices" of the city, particularly for the environment.

Li said that the city's plans and projects presented during the delegates' visit are "impressive" and "feasible."

He added that the plans and projects can be followed by the other APEC member-economies.

"Yes, very feasible and we saw the best practice for developing economies (on) how to keep the balance of economic development and the environment," Li said.

Li also said suggested to the city to contact with more experts to further improve its plans and projects. He added that the city may ask for help from other economies, including the United States, in improving its plans and projects,.

"…We have to convince other experts… and maybe we can get small support from US or other countries who would like to provide some support to improve the human (resource) management, reduce emission, and reduce (effects of) climate change," Li said.

Li, who was a first-timer in Cebu, said that he finds the province "very beautiful and impressive as per economic growth" because it was able to keep its culture and environment-friendly development.

However, he said that the province needs to focus more on the industry sector, especially on the energy efficiency and energy consumption of buildings.

"From my perspective, you can focus more on industry because I learned a lot that you pay more attention to the energy efficiency of building, transportation sector, industrializing energy consumption, the impact of your bills very quickly," Li said.

The delegates were set to visit San Miguel Brewery, Inc., after their visit to the City Hall.

Li also said that they will tour around cities and some towns to see their strategic approach that improves the areas' energy efficiency and reduction of negative effects to the environment.

Lawyer James Abadia, Mandaue City administrator, also said that the delegates were interested in the environment of the city. He said that the delegates suggested that their economies "have technologies available" that Mandaue can adopt.

Abadia, who presented the plans and projects of the city before the delegates, showed primarily the "good governance programs" of the city.

During the presentation, Abadia showed the delegates how the city developed its Green Building Code, which has a system that rates the environmental performance of the buildings.

Abadia also mentioned the Green Loop, Mandaue's Takakura composting, the city's Material Recovery Facility, among others.

Abadia said that the suggestions of the APEC delegates regarding the environment may open more opportunities, not only for the city, but also for the whole province.

"This is not only for Mandaue City, but for the entire Cebu area because we presented not only the problems of Mandaue, but those affecting the larger Metropolitan Cebu, such as transportation, traffic, even drainage and flooding," Abadia said. — Jave A. Matugas (FREEMAN)