BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved an ordinance appropriating the amount of P3 million from the city’s 2017 local development fund for the development of the forest nursery along Ambuclao road.
The ordinance authored by the Committee on Public Works chaired by Councilor Maria Mylen Victoria G. Yaranon with Councilors Leandro B. Yangot, Jr. and Michael Lawana as members cited the need to develop the city’s forest nursery along Ambuclao road to provide additional sources of planting materials to be used not only by the local government but also ordinary residents in the propagation of endemic plant species in the different parts of the city.
Under the 2017 local development fund of the city, some P3 million was earmarked for the completion of the forest nursery along Ambuclao road which will be undertaken by the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) and the City Buildings and Architecture Office (CBAO).
However, on May 12, 2017, Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan requested the members of the local legislative body for the change of title of the project funded under the 2017 development fund from completion of forest nursery at Ambuclao road to development of the forest nursery at Ambuclao road in the amount of P3 million.
Among the supposed activities originally planned for the project site were roadside improvement and gardening, reforestation and urban greening and establishment of tree parks or eco parks, improvement of the parks, greening and landscaping, repair and rehabilitation of barangay parks along Leonard Wood road, beautification and rehabilitation of adopted parks and gardens located within parks and development of the nursery structures.
The city’s local finance committee certified the availability of the P3 million from the 2017 local development fund that led to the approval by the City Council of the request for the long overdue implementation of the forest nursery project to strengthen the local government’s preservation and protection of the environment.
Yangot explained to the members of the local legislative body that the request for the change of title of the project was brought about by the fact that no actual project was undertaken in the forest nursery through the years, thus, the need to correct the title of the project to development of the forest nursery considering that projects have yet to be implemented in the said area.
Once the forest nursery project is completed, local legislators expressed confidence that the city can provide residents with sufficient planting materials of various plant species they may plant in their backyard as their contributions to the efforts of the city to guarantee the preservation and protection of the environment.
The forest nursery along Ambuclao road will be under the CEPMO which is in charge of all the operations of existing nurseries in the different parts of the city.
By Dexter A. See