BACOLOD City – The city government plans to reclaim 300 hectares of coastline in Barangay Banago through a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.
City Legal Officer Romeo Carlos Ting Jr. said they sent a letter to the Sangguniang Panlungsod requesting to authorize Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez to apply to the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA).
Ting said the Bacolod Reclamation and Gateway Corporation (BRGC) had only proposed, but it is the city government that should apply to the PRA.
He also clarified that the reclamation project will still be open to a Swiss challenge.
A Swiss challenge is a form of competition that requires a public authority (usually an agency of the government) that has received an unsolicited bid for a public project or for services to publish the bid and invite third parties to provide better proposals.
Last year, the city council granted a resolution of no objection (RONO) following the request of BRGC, presented by its legal counsel Dindo Ramos, for a reclamation project in the 247.84-hectare coastal area in Barangay Banago also, which adjoins BRGC’s properties./PN
