The Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) is poised to host its first ever land reclamation and dredging summit on April 24-25, 2017 at Le Pavillon in Metropolitan Park, Pasay City.
With the theme “Platforms for Progress and Prosperity: Building Legacy Islands on Water”, the two-day event aims to gather reclamation stakeholders to discuss the concepts of reclamation and dredging, solutions to risks and hazards in reclamation, best practices on environmental management of reclamation projects, “Building with Nature” (BwN), and climate change.
Local and international water experts will grace the event to present the concepts, issues and solutions, and best practices.
In cooperation with the Embassy of the Netherlands, Dr. Ronald Waterman, a Dutch water expert who developed the BwN approach, will discuss the said design principle. BwN is a design philosophy which uses the organic and inorganic forces of nature to do land reclamation and coastal protection among others. This concept is widely used in the Netherlands and other areas prone to coastal flooding and storm surges. In the Philippines, PRA initiated a Coastal Protection Strategy project in Tacloban City using the same approach by mangrove planting and plans of building hard structures where necessary.
For the first day of the gathering, aside from BwN, basic concepts of reclamation will be discussed by Van Oord, a Dutch company known for its marine and offshore ingenuity. Environmental dredging methods and equipment will be tackled by Belgian dredging company Jan de Nul. Dr. Carlo A. Arcilla of the University of the Philippines National Institute of Geological Studies and Asia Oceania Geosciences Society will talk about the solutions to inherent risks and hazards in land reclamation. CITIC Infrastructure Investment Co. Ltd. of China will present the “One Belt One Road” (OBOR) Development Agenda and the “Silk Road” Infrastructure Fund for Southeast Asian Infrastructure Projects. Lastly, Deltares, a Dutch firm specializing in flood risk, infrastructures, water, and the environment will be lecturing on “Adaptive Delta Planning.”
For the second day, international best practices for environmental management of land reclamation will be presented by DHI, another international firm that addresses challenges involving water. Royal Haskoning DHV, having spearheaded with the Dutch government and with the PRA the creation of a coastal protection strategy for Tacloban City and Palo, Leyte, will discuss the applicability of coastal protection to vulnerable coastlines in the country. An example of a project using BwN by transforming an ecologically impoverished body of water will be presented by Boskalis, another Dutch firm with marine expertise.
Land reclamation as a solution to rising sea levels and other consequences of climate change will be discussed by Surbana, a consultancy firm with expertise on urbanization, industrialization, and infrastructure. The existing Central Business Park 1 B&C project in Bay City, situated in Parañaque City, will be highlighted by R1 Consortium and Jan de Nul.
PRA Chairman Alberto C. Agra, a Certified Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Specialist and Certified Regulation Specialist,will talk about PPPs and reclamation projects. Before closing the summit, PRA will feature its coastal protection project in Tacloban City and Palo, Leyte wherein opportunities to build green and grey infrastructures will be showcased.
For inquiries, registration, and confirmation of attendance, the Land Reclamation and Dredging Summit Secretariat may be contacted through the number 459-5000. Interested parties may also send an e-mail at [email protected].