The city will be giving up the land earlier identified as the site of its command center within a portion of the Camp John Hay (CJH) property in favor of the Department of Education in exchange for the latter’s land that will be given to the city government for the put up of the multi-million Aurora Hill District Health Center located in Bayan Park.
Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong stated that the gesture of the city in willingly giving up the land identified for its command center in exchange for the agency’s property for the proposed district health center is to ensure the education department will not be shortchanged by the plan of the city to construct the center in its property.
Earlier, the city government identified a 550-square meter property of the education department in Bayan Park as the feasible site for the proposed Aurora Hill District Health Center that will also serve as a step-down facility to replace the old and health center which is said to be already overcrowded.
However, he pointed out that since the local government decided to look for another location for the integrated command center, the area earlier identified for this could be exchanged with that of the education department’s Bayan Park property.
According to him, the city will be submitting to the education department’s central office the program of work, the design of the proposed structure and the draft of the deed of usufruct for approval so that the city government could start soonest the construction of the district health center.
City Administrator Bonifacio dela Peña expressed hope that the city will be able to bid out the aforesaid project by the end of May so that its implementation could start before the end of June to prevent some of the funds from reverting to the general fund if the project will not commence by the end of June.
The city acquired a P10 million funding assistance from the health department for the put up of a temporary treatment and monitoring facility while the city government gave an P8 million counterpart to elevate the facility to a district health center and a step-down facility within the Bayan Park area.
He stipulated this proposed facility will be compliant to the health agency’s prescribed standards for similar facilities for it to operate as a district health center and a step-down facility to serve the health needs of the residents living in the Aurora Hill District. By Dexter A. See
