BAUKO, Mountain Province – The municipal government is studying several options for the put-up of a multi-storey public market that should be self-liquidating and part of the income-generating project of the present administration to help elevate the status of the municipality.
Mayor Abraham B. Akilit said the municipal government is looking into the possibility of negotiating with some funding institutions for the implementation of the market development plan by phase and that whatever will be completed will be eventually occupied to start generating income for the municipality.
“We want to maximize the potentials of our public market to generate income not only for the repayment of the cost of its construction, but also for the additional income for the municipality to help increase our ability to generate added income for the improves delivery of basic services to our constituents,” Mayor Akilit stressed.
The municipal government will enter into a joint venture agreement with the Episcopal Church of the Philippines for the use of the latter’s property to put up the town’s public market to serve as its income-generating project and provide opportunities for local entrepreneurs to do business.
According to him, the municipal government needs an improved market to serve the increasing number of visitors wanting to explore and discover the numerous ecotourism destinations in the different parts of the municipality who also want to purchase souvenir items and other local products.
Earlier, Akilit pointed out that the development thrust of the municipality is responsible tourism promotion through the preservation and protection of the town’s environment that support its scenic tourist spots.
He urged residents and interested investors to put up tourism-related businesses in the strategic areas of the municipality to help encourage foreign and domestic visitors to drop by the town and visit the existing tourist spots before proceeding to other desired destinations in the different parts of the Cordillera, particularly Sagada town and Banaue in nearby Ifugao.
Bauko hosts the major part of the over 5,000-hectare Mount Data National Park that serves as the source of the abundant water flowing to major river systems such as the Chico, Agno, Magat and Abra rivers that sustain the growth of the agriculture in the lowland communities.
The Municipal Mayor asserted the town’s tourism industry needs to be enhanced as it will be a major economic driver in the municipality considering the jobs it can generate aside from spurring the increase in sources of livelihoods of people living in the town’s 22 barangays.
Bauko is also host to towering and majestic mountains, refreshing waterfalls, scenic agriculture farms, challenging trekking sites, among other tourist spots, worthy of visiting by foreign and domestic tourists who want to explore other interesting tourist spots around the Cordillera region which is also known as the watershed cradle of Northern Luzon.
By HENT
