A higher place in Tagaytay

By CARLOMAR ARCANGEL DAOANA

November 2, 2010, 2:47pm

Part of the change and reinvention of any town or city is the constant influx of new inhabitants. As the number of people grows, the demand for housing and other necessities rises as well, energizing business and commerce, requiring fresh infrastructure and development, and fostering a sense of community among the disparate groups of people that call a particular place home. Before you know it, you have a full-fledged, alive, and multi-faceted city.

Tagaytay City, no doubt, has established itself as a boom town ever since people recognized the recreational possibility of a lake, a small volcano, and a cool climate. Unlike Baguio it has not succumbed to overpopulation and urban disarray, keeping its charm and beauty largely intact. This may be because the majority of people who have houses in the city are not based there but in the nearby provinces and Metro Manila. Their houses, in short, are vacation homes and their trip to Tagaytay is but a breather to their frenetic lives somewhere else.

Offering a burgeoning community in this getaway is the Wind Residences, a lifestyle project of SM Development Corp., whose first tower was unveiled last year to resounding success. Its second tower has just recently unveiled, masterplanned within what is envisioned to be a ten-tower mixed used development.  The second will have more than 30,000 square meters of ground area, feature 862 one-bedroom units, and offer breath-taking views of Taal Lake.

Other amenities include: 21-passenger elevator, 24-hour security, a lobby, and access to lifestyle amenities that include lounges, a viewing gazebo, and deck. The tower will also share the amenities of the development such as a two-hectare lawn, jogging paths, playground, swimming pool, sports center, function rooms, and a clubhouse. Characterized by greenery and the unhurried lifestyle which Tagaytay is famous for, Wind Residences will have tracts of open spaces.

What this development promises is the proximity of modern-day conveniences. Units in the second floor will be devoted to commercial use. The location of the Wind Residences, along the Emilio Aguinaldo Highway, gives residents easy access to world-class restaurants, recreational spaces, and other interesting tourist sites, such as the spectacular beaches in Batangas.

The project highlights its affordability, giving the opportunity to realize the dream of those who want to have a home Tagaytay. Whether seen as an investment, a second-home, or a getaway, Wind Residences’ has the natural beauty, the well-planned community, and a respected name in real estate going for it.

The New Oil

Should private companies control our most precious natural resource?

Ethan Miller / Getty Images

Click to view a gallery about how we're losing our lakes.

Losing Our Lakes: Precious Resources at Risk

Sitka, Alaska, is home to one of the world’s most spectacular lakes. Nestled into a U-shaped valley of dense forests and majestic peaks, and fed by snowpack and glaciers, the reservoir, named Blue Lake for its deep blue hues, holds trillions of gallons of water so pure it requires no treatment. The city’s tiny population—fewer than 10,000 people spread across 5,000 square miles—makes this an embarrassment of riches. Every year, as countries around the world struggle to meet the water needs of their citizens, 6.2 billion gallons of Sitka’s reserves go unused. That could soon change. In a few months, if all goes according to plan, 80 million gallons of Blue Lake water will be siphoned into the kind of tankers normally reserved for oil—and shipped to a bulk bottling facility near Mumbai. From there it will be dispersed among several drought-plagued cities throughout the Middle East. The project is the brainchild of two American companies. One, True Alaska Bottling, has purchased the rights to transfer 3 billion gallons of water a year from Sitka’s bountiful reserves. The other, S2C Global, is building the water-processing facility in India. If the companies succeed, they will have brought what Sitka hopes will be a $90 million industry to their city, not to mention a solution to one of the world’s most pressing climate conundrums. They will also have turned life’s most essential molecule into a global commodity.

Related: A Map of the Most Water-Rich and Most Drought-Stricken Nations »

The transfer of water is nothing new. New York City is supplied by a web of tunnels and pipes that stretch 125 miles north into the Catskills Mountains; Southern California gets its water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Colorado River Basin, which are hundreds of miles to the north and west, respectively. The distance between Alaska and India is much farther, to be sure. But it’s not the distance that worries critics. It’s the transfer of so much water from public hands to private ones. “Water has been a public resource under public domain for more than 2,000 years,” says James Olson, an attorney who specializes in water rights. “Ceding it to private entities feels both morally wrong and dangerous.”

Everyone agrees that we are in the midst of a global freshwater crisis. Around the world, rivers, lakes, and aquifers are dwindling faster than Mother Nature can possibly replenish them; industrial and household chemicals are rapidly polluting what’s left. Meanwhile, global population is ticking skyward. Goldman Sachs estimates that global water consumption is doubling every 20 years, and the United Nations expects demand to outstrip supply by more than 30 percent come 2040.

Source: Newsweek