Manila beautification part of investor come-on

MANILA, Philippines — Believing that business generally abhors filthy surroundings, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has launched “Metro Gwapo, Pook Na Bulok, Negosyo Hindi Papasok,” a two-pronged project to clean up and draw investors to key areas of the metropolis.

MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando, the brains of the Metro Gwapo project, said the cleanup drive was in response to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo�s directive to spruce up Metro Manila.

But the cleanup drive is only a part of the whole package, he said. The bigger objective is to make the metropolis the country�s business showcase and hub of economic activity.

All things considered, a clean and hygienic environment is more likely to entice investors to put up businesses in than filthy surroundings, he added.

Fernando discussed the �Metro Gwapo� project on �The Cabinet Speaks,� a weekly TV program aired over Channel 4 and hosted by Press Undersecretary for Broadcast Martin Crisostomo.

�Metro Gwapo aims to make every family in Metro Manila proud of the place they live in. This requires proper use of the city we live in. Metro Gwapito in 2008 and Metro Gwapo in 2010. The project goes beyond sprucing up the place. More importantly, it is designed to improve the lives of the people in the area,� Fernando said.

Initially, the project covered Metro Manila�s so-called �Investors� Corridor,� among them the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), Manila Domestic Airport, Roxas Boulevard and Nagtahan. The project has since been expanded to cover major thoroughfares.

The project includes traffic management, relocation of sidewalk vendors and waterways dwellers, the identification of metro walks and bikeways, cleanup of rundown structures along major thoroughfares and painting them green, pink, yellow and blue.

Ornamental plants are also being planted along Metro roads.

During the TV program, Fernando issued an appeal to the public to cooperate with the MMDA to make the project a success. By 2010, he said, the �Double M� would transition to �MG� for �Metro Gwapo.�

Metro Manila, also known as the National Capital Region (NCR), is composed of the cities of Manila, Quezon, Caloocan, Pasay, Mandaluyong, Muntinlupa, Makati, Pasig, Marikina, Navotas, Las Pinas, Paranaque, Valenzuela, Malabon, Taguig, and San Juan, and the Municipality of Pateros.

An agency under the Office of the President, MMDA undertakes the planning, monitoring and coordination of projects in the area. In the process, it exercises regulatory and supervisory authority over the delivery of metrowide services without infringing on the autonomy of the local government units in the area.