Pasay City-backed reclamation projects in Manila Bay can easily generate at least one million jobs from horizontal development and commercial operations, Pasay City Administrator Peter Manzano said.
Manzano made the statement during a congressional hearing on Thursday on the proposed Manila Bay reclamation projects.
Manzano, who attended the briefing on behalf of Pasay City Mayor Emi Calixto, spoke about the economic impact of reclamation efforts in Manila Bay, particularly under the Pasay Eco-City Coastal Development Projects.
The House Ways and Means Committee chaired by Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda conducted the hearing.
Foremost among these impacts, according to Manzano are the “millions of jobs and billions of revenues” the projects will generate.
The “Eco-City” endeavor included the 360-hectare reclamation project under a joint venture with SM Smart City Infrastructure and Development Corporation, dubbed “Pasay 360.”
“During horizontal development and commercial operations, private developers, investors, and business establishments at the Projects could easily generate over a million jobs, including those related to construction, business process outsourcing, retail, banking, hotels and restaurants, and the like,” Manzano said.
In general, Manzano said this joint venture with the private sector is “projected to create economic multipliers, and generate millions of jobs and billions of revenues by way of income and value-added taxes for the national government, and real property taxes and business taxes for the city.”
He said that as it is, Pasay’s development is held back by “acute land scarcity and urban congestion.”
The Eco-City project is designed to change all that, giving considerable windfall to the national government in the process.