Construction booming in Central Visayas: Neda

THE construction industry is booming, according to the Regional Economic Situationer.
Cebu City appears to affirm this with over 30 planned medium- and high-rise buildings set to be built between 2011 and 2015. But this also means officials have to face the challenges in traffic, parking and waste management that these new buildings will entail.
According to the situationer, prepared by the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) 7, construction and real estate activities in Central Visayas thrived in the first half of 2011.
The biggest among the construction projects is the P20- billion integrated development project of SM Prime Holdings in Cebu City.
Demand
All the condominium construction projects noted in the situationer are within Cebu City.
“The continued growth of the construction and real estate sectors was due to strong demand for business process outsourcing (BPO) and tourism-related facilities and services, growing demand for residential units particularly in the urban centers, and demand required by the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibition) market,” the situationer read.
The online forum skyscrapercity.com has documented at least 34 medium and high-rise buildings to rise in Cebu by 2015. About 30 are in Cebu City.
The highest buildings projected are the Horizons 101 Towers 1 and 2 along Gen. Maxilom Ave. by Taft Properties. The first tower will have 55 floors and the second tower will have 46 floors.
The first tower is already under construction with building permit application number 436 at the Cebu City Office of the Building Official (OBO).
OBO has been bombarded with applications for building permits lately.
Monitoring
Medium-rise buildings are those with six to 10 floors while high-rise buildings are those above 11 floors, said OBO Chief Josefa Ylanan.
In the case of Cebu City, according to the website, five buildings are over 30 floors and these are Horizons’ two towers, 30-storey GT Tower in Fuente Osmeña, 33-storey Ultima Residences Tower 4 and the 30-storey Calyx Residences at the Cebu Business Park.
All five are already under construction but only Taft Properties has records for building permit in OBO, while developers of the three other buildings have none.
Ylanan, though, said that it is impossible that these buildings don’t have permits; it could be that the contractors or the owners, themselves, applied for the building permit and not the developers.
“Everybody can see construction of high-rise buildings. Definitely, the respective barangays will call their attention,” said Ylanan.
A barangay permit is the first requirement in order to construct a building and this means revenue for the said barangay. There are 16 buildings that have over 20 floors and less than 30.
Recharging
Most of the 30 medium and high-rise buildings are condominiums. A short walk through Cebu City’s urban center would show that medium-rise and high-rise condominiums are sprouting.
Cebu City Councilor Michael Ralota, an architect, deems it necessary to control the waste management of condominiums. He plans to pen an ordinance for condominiums to have separate waste management for solid and liquid wastes.
Solid wastes can be used as fertilizer while liquid waste can be used for recharging the aquifer, he said.
More residential buildings also entail heavier traffic. Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) Executive Director Rafael Yap said the short-term solution for heavier traffic caused by massive urbanization is the strict enforcement of the City’s zoning regulations.
Among the regulations are for residential buildings to follow the parking requirements and the regulation for sidewalks.
“The long-term solution is the mass transport system and the bus rapid transport (BRT) is very timely,” said Yap.
Control
While the 30 buildings are expected to be completed in 2015, the final phase for the BRT is also expected to be finished at that time. The estimate is that the BRT will be implemented at the end of 2013.
Ylanan also said that the City has the power to control growth and development, through the City Planning and Development Office (CPDO).
CPDO issues locational and development clearances, which are requirements after the barangay clearance and before the building permit.
The Cebu City Council even exercised its power by passing an ordinance amending the 1996 Zoning Ordinance of Cebu City so that development in the north zone will be controlled because of traffic considerations.
Drainage is another issue to be looked into, which is why there is more development in the uptown area rather than the downtown. Officials are concerned that the drainage system downtown won’t handle the strain of additional development.