Cebu Picked as One of 5 Asian Cities in Urban Greening Study

An international organization has chosen Cebu as one of five Asian cities in its “green growth” study, Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III said.

The other cities that will be covered by the study are Bangkok in Thailand, Johor Bahru or Iskandar in Malaysia, Bandung in Indonesia and Hai Phong in Vietnam.

Davide said the study, “Urban Green Grown in Dynamic Asia Project,” will cost around PHP10 million and will be undertaken by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

OECD is an organization of 34 high-income countries that provides, among others, a forum where governments can work, share experiences and come up with solutions to common problems.

In a letter to Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, Davide said the project will examine policies in promoting “greening” and competitiveness in fast-growing economies.

Davide heads the Metro Cebu Development Coordination Board (MCDCB).

The project will also examine policies for the improvement of the city’s environmental performance and urban quality of life, as well as “increase institutional capacity to achieve green growth.”

Davide said the OECD study is “very timely” because the roadmap study for sustainable urban development of Metro Cebu conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), has just been completed.

One of the programs included in the roadmap study is the “operationalization” of the Mega Cebu spatial plan.

Davide said the spatial plan, which has been identified by the MCDCB as one of its 14 priority roadmap projects, can be initiated by presenting it as the focus area for the OECD study.

“We are now at a critical juncture in Cebu’s development journey and we would like to take this opportunity of creating a better future by focusing on the policy dimension of urban structure and land use. This, in consideration of the need to have this detailed in terms of the smart growth principles, thus ensuring that Cebu’s growth is ‘green’ and also consider resilience as well as economic competitiveness,” he said. (PNA) JMC/EB/SSC