Macau: Setting the Stage for the Boom

2/21/2007

A few days in Macau, China gave me a view of a city on the throes of a boom. Evident in the handsome bridges and wide highways are the intense preparations and pro-active planning by its city officials. Several huge buildings now under construction are a testament to the coming birth of a new Macau. Apparently, the big city infrastructure was first put in place before investors were even lured in to erect their skyscrapers and casinos. Elsewhere, new roads are created only when traffic becomes unbearable. In Macau, big business is presented with a clean progressive landscape at the outset, much like the beginning screens of a SIM city.

In our country. planned communities like Bonifacio, Alabang, and Sta. Rosa are initiated by the private sector, not the government. In fairness to our public planners, great city development blueprints had been drawn up ages ago, but the lack of will, not to mention the funding, to
implement these, has discouraged more active private sector investments.

The success of a city is brought about by a government’s firm commitment to make good on its promises. Seeing concrete steps towards improving infrastructure and public works heartens the investors, since they know that the developments they put up will not be wasted on a stagnant city.  Imagine the frustration of spending billions of dollars worth of infrastructure, based on the promise of a government to build a road and an airport in a certain area and later finding out that red tape has stopped it from delivering. But if the goverment has a track record of fulfilling its promises to big business, then that country would be a paradise for investors.

It’s just too bad that our government is too busy fending off bad publicity and chalking up "pogi" points, instead of focusing on improving roads, building bridges, and upgrading utilities and services, which are the backbone of construction and industry. There must be clear rules and guidelines that are supportive of investors, rather than requirements that only allow small officials to filch and prop up their personal nest eggs.

In our country, a heretofore developer has a million and one obstacles to put up with! They have
to build their own expressway interchange and connecting roads to get to their property. They have to have their own generator sets since the public-supplied power is unreliable. They have to excavate their own wells and erect their own water towers to ensure an adequate supply. They have to get rid of squatters infesting their areas, since most of these “potential voters” had been sanctioned by the local governments for decades. Those who follow the laws strictly may face a disadvantage if they meet up with a competitor who has paid his way through.

We spend so much money on pork barrels of lawmakers intent only on assigning their names to roads rather than refining existing laws to be more investor-friendly. It brings to mind a bumper sticker I once read: "If you want to do something, do it now before they make a law against it."

In addition, also in Macau, I observed with some degree of envy how much importance they placed on preserving their old churches and buildings. Although, these structures are not as impressive as those we have on our own shores, they played them up in their tourist brochures as “must-sees”! It makes me hope we could be more careful and proud of preserving our own heritage. We have so many trully beautiful heritage sites that are either left to deteriorate or even demolished and replaced by garish malls and buildings.

When will we ever learn how rich we are in culture and history --- when there's nothing more to preserve? Our cities are rich in interesting buildings, parks, and churches. We have to cajole, coerce, and convince our public officials to allocate some percentage of their “pork” into maintaining and protecting these. We may need huge malls and commercial buildings to be viable in the 21^st century, but, please, not at the expense of our heirloom sites.