MMDC to submit reclamation requirements before end 2015

CEBU, Philippines – Ming-Mori Development Corp. (MMDC) is to submit the studies on its proposed reclamation project in Minglanilla, Cebu to the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) before the year ends.

MMDC Chairman and President Jose Soberano III said they have been working on environmental impact assessment, environmental compliance certificate as well as the technical study as requirements for the project.

“Once that’s done we would be able to submit that [study] to PRA,” Soberano said in an interview. MMDC is a subsidiary of Cebu Landmasters Inc.

Once the PRA approves the company’s application, Soberano said the Minglanilla municipal government would then call other potential developers to make counter-offers for the project to be done under public-private partnership (PPP). The official said the municipal government might open the proposed project for other bids by the first quarter next year to challenge the unsolicited proposal of MMDC.

“Interested parties will be invited to come up with their bids. But at the end of this, we will still be given the right to match the highest bid,” Soberano explained.

Soberano added the proposed project, as in any PPP undertaking, will have to go through the so-called Swiss challenge, a mechanism wherein the original proponent — MMDC in this case — still has the right to match the price of the winning bidder of the contract. “Within the six-month period [from now], that’s when we hope to get the award and will be given the right to undertake the project,” the executive said.

In 2013, MMDC signed a memorandum of agreement with the Minglanilla local government for the proposed reclamation of 100-hectare coastal roads in Barangays Tulay and Calajo-an. The PPP reclamation project was approved by Cebu Provincial Reclamation Authority in July this year.

Soberano said the construction of the 100-hectare Minglanilla Reclamation and Industrial Park could start by next year. The development, estimated to cost billions of pesos, will soon locate companies engaged in light manufacturing industries.