Project Title & Location
MASTER PLAN FOR THE SOUTH HARBOR EXPANDED PORT ZONE REDEVELOPMENT
Port of Manila, South Harbor, Manila

Client
Philippines Ports Authority
Port of Manila, South Harbor, Manila

Project Completion
1999

Associated Firms
ECT Consulting Engineers
Padre Pio Consulting and Management Corp.
Transportas Consulting, Inc.
Strategies and Alliances Corporation, Inc.
Espina, Perez-Espina and Associates

Services Provided
- Assessment of port operations
- Redevelopment plan
- Phasing out plan
- Urban Design and Restoration
- Traffic circulation and utilities plan
- Financial strategy

Just before the Revolution of 1898, the Spanish government had plans to revitalize the Port of Manila. Because major port at Cavite was getting difficult to maintain and operate, the transfer to Manila was decided. The program was delayed for a few years. It was the U. S. Colonial government that proceeded with the plan. Instead of just the port at the mouth of Pasig River, a massive reclamation project that continued through to the Commonwealth period ensued.

The initial result of the reclamation was the Manila South Port Area. Properties in back-up of the piers were leased out to private business. This areas became the industrial zone of the city.

In the late 1990's, a number of leaseholds were expiring one after the other. Government agencies located in the South Port Area began to see the value of their property. All in all there were some 28 hectares that can be released by PPA for the non-port related activities. The view of the business sector is to transform the expanded port zone into Manila's Finance and Business Center. The general objective is to create an institutional business, commercial and tourism section of the district under a phased redevelopment program.

Major efforts were made by PROS and its affiliate consultants to generate traffic forecasts, formulate parameters for port operations and determine the scale and magnitude of storage areas required by the future port operations in the South Port Area. These have to be made in order to assess the role SHEPZ shall play in the overall operations of the port. The proposed projects of the Philippine Ports Authority were also validated and their locations established.

Since the SHEPZ is host to a large number of art deco buildings, with their architecture features worth preserving, these were identified and mapped in order for them to be made fixed features of the master plan. A circulation plan, a landscape development concept together with a phasing plan formed the factors that were used in the preparation of a financial strategy for implementing the SHEPZ development.