CEBU CITY - Cebu's business
community is envisioning the transformation of Metro
Cebu into the next Hong Kong, with the construction of
an underwater tunnel, a new port and a monorail to
attract more tourists.
Cebu Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (CCCI) president Robert Go said the the
group is finalizing the details and design of the master
plan, which it hopes to present to the public next
month.
"We want Cebu to have a facelift to
attract more tourists. We want it to be an investment
haven of the country. It is a very ambitious plan," Go
said.
Among the group's plan is the construction
of an underwater tunnel that will connect Cebu to the
municipality of Cordova in Mactan Island, which CCCI
hopes will be the new site of an international port.
The group also envisions a monorail "smaller"
than the trains used in the Light Rail Transit system,
which will bring people straight to downtown Cebu City
from the Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Lapu-Lapu
City.
With this, the CCCI board and the tourism
core group, after consultations, proposed the transfer
of the Carbon Public Market to the South Reclamation
Project (SRP).
"We want the SRP to be alive," Go
said.
Aside from setting up a boardwalk from the
North Reclamation Area to the SRP, the business group
will also push for the construction of an international
port in the municipality of Cordova so ocean liners and
cruise ships doing tours in Southeast Asia could dock
there.
"We are envisioning that we will look
like Hong Kong in 20 years," Go said.
He said
they have "picked" many brains and hired architects to
make the designs for the plan, which they hope will get
government approval and an endorsement for funding by
the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Go
said the CCCI has not yet consulted the mayors but he is
optimistic that he will get their support since the
project will highly benefit the cities of Cebu, Mandaue,
Lapu-Lapu and Talisay, as well as the town of Cordova.
The support of government leaders is needed
since the project will be implemented using a loan.
Go, who sits as vice chairman of the Regional
Development Council, or RDC 7, said he will endorse the
project to the infrastructure development committee of
the RDC 7 to get their opinions and suggestions.
(Asia Pulse/PNA)
Jan 4, 2005
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