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News Top Stories Land developers warn of negative effects of land conversion
News Top Stories Land developers warn of negative effects of land conversion
| Land developers warn of negative effects of land conversion |
| Saturday, 31 May 2008 03:47 | ||||||
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Poor Filipinos would bear much of the brunt, said the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Association Inc (Creba). Unemployment would rise "erroneously" since a large chunk of the country's labor force depended on construction projects and poverty would be magnified, pushing the poor to either go abroad or the "boondocks" to become rebels, the chamber added. "The land conversion ban may seem a harmless piece of government policy, but it can be the last straw that will break the camel's back,” said Creba national president Reghis Romero II in a statement Friday. In mid-April, Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman imposed an indefinite moratorium on the conversion of agricultural lands into real estate properties in response to the rice crisis in the country and to avert a possible food shortage in the future. The moratorium was implemented to allow for the review and study of conversion guidelines to address the "unabated conversion of prime agricultural lands for real estate development." But Romero, chair of the R-II Builders Group of Companies, said the ban on land conversion was not the answer to food shortage. He said it could even lead to another problem -- housing backlog. Citing the government's estimate, Romero said within two years, the country's housing backlog of 1.5 million would surge to 2.1 million. A halt in construction, he further noted, would paralyze the "entire supply chain" -- from land developers and housing contractors to industry suppliers and service providers, including manufacturing and tourism. Eventually, stock market prices of listed property firms would nosedive, subsequently affecting other related businesses, he said. "You cannot just tinker carelessly with the real estate industry without facing grave economic consequences," Romero said, adding that such consequences would affect the government's programs related to land development as well. He suggested several measures to avert what he described as an "impending economic crisis" brought about by the ban: • Review, revise and implement the national urban development and housing framework prepared by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) to guide the formulation of location-specific land use plans. • Classify and map lands according to crop suitability and susceptibility to typhoon, floods and other natural calamities. • Holders of emancipation patents and certificate of land ownership awards (Cloa) must come together in cooperatives and allow their lands to be managed professionally. • A maximum of 12,000 hectares annually must be earmarked solely for shelter and its support facilities with DAR's role limited to ensuring that it is not exceeded. • The government should concentrate only on the development of natural gas, nuclear, solar power, wind power, bio-mass, geothermal, coal and others that do need not much land use.
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