EASILY the biggest business happening in Davao City this year was the formal opening last May 12 of the Abreeza Mall. Barely a kilometer north of Davao’s city hall, the area is in the vortex of current economic and development activities never seen in the city’s history.
The mall, with its unique features, is among the biggest of its kind hereabouts. However, lest we be accused of unabashedly extolling it at the expense of the older malls which have served their clients well, we urge Dabawenyos and visitors to drop by Abreeza Mall and validate for themselves why indeed it is quickly gaining a reputation for being the “new kid on the block,” so to speak.
Note that Abreeza is only one of the vertical and horizontal structures that have risen on a once marshy area that could pitch barely a centavo per square meter just before the Second World War. There will be a residential condominium, a boutique hotel and an IT building for business process outsourcing (BPO) locators, spas, wellness gyms, sports facilities and even nature gardens.
Even as Abreeza moves to complete “the community,” still further north of the old central business district (CBD), which has been home to the city hall and the historic San Pedro Cathedral, is another group of modern-day monolithic structures rising on a former golf course. Its tentative name is SM North, the second mall in the city owned by retail mogul Henry Sy, the first, SM City Davao, being a kilometer south of the city hall.
SM North promises to have more high-end stores than Abreeza’s more than 100 first-time Davao locators. Like Abreeza, SM North will have a posh hotel, an IT building for more BPO locators, a condominium and more eye-popping amenities. The new malls are raising the bar of excellence in local retailing business, and more. They make Dabawenyos proud, basking in the glory of being the undisputed business capital of Mindanao.
But all these will not come for free. There is a price to pay for everything. Already, the malls have reportedly driven small retailers, including small-time eateries, out of business. Malls are part of the growing phenomenon in developing communities like Davao City, referred to as urban or suburban sprawl. In developed societies, there is so much debate on the advantages and disadvantages of urban sprawl.
The challenges and downside include increase in the volume of vehicular traffic resulting in traffic-related accidents, increased air pollution and more reliance on fossil fuel, spike in transportation fares, higher car dependence, lost time and productivity in commuting, rise in infrastructure costs, decline in neighborhood quality, and even health challenges like respiratory diseases and higher incidence of obesity.
It is our hope that all these challenges will not be lost on our city planners, policy makers, and the leadership of the city government so they will know when to say enough is enough.
