More Boracay dev’ts seen

More infrastructures are expected to rise here now that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has lifted the moratorium on new constructions.
A “new system” for the granting of construction permits, however, will be in place, an officer of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office said.
The DENR, Department of Tourism and the municipal government of Malay will meet this week to discuss plans in light of the construction freeze lift.
They will “clarify the agencies’ roles in the development of Boracay,” said forester Heherson Alvarez.
“In the past,” said Alvarez, also a representative of DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau in Aklan, “there had been misunderstandings with regard to our respective policies.”
Under the new system, he said, “DENR will require residential areas to apply for a permit if they want to construct a new building.”
Alvarez said this system may also eventually lead to the distribution of land titles to the residents but did not explain how.
DENR enforced the moratorium last year after the government declared Boracay a “critical habitat.”
The government has since demolished illegal structures at the beachfront.
Environmental advocates believe the demolitions helped the island resort’s ecology to recuperate from damage caused by constructions.
DENR lifted the moratorium last week./