The State-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) will be giving a total of 13,000 square meters of its property to some government agencies and the local government for the put up of their respective development projects to enhance the delivery of basic services to the people not only from the city but also from the different parts of the Cordillera that the government instrumentalities serve.
Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong stated that some 12,000 square meters of the BCDA property along Loakan Road will be ceded by the State corporation to a number of government agencies needing sites for the put up of their permanent offices while 1,000 square meters will be for the put up of the national data center in coordination with the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT).
He added that the lot that will be ceded to the local government will be situated near the Baterol area as the same has been identified as conducive to serve as a site for the proposed data center project.
Initially, the BCDA committed to cede some 10,000 square meters of its property along Loakan Road as site for the proposed put up of the Baguio Justice Hall to accommodate the various municipal and regional trial courts, courtesy of the Supreme Court (SC) and the office of the prosecutor, that will be handled by the justice department, the regional office of the bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and the local government for its supposed command center.
However, the area which will be the subject of the deed of usufruct between BCDA and the involved agencies will be expanded to some 12,000 square meters after the Office of Civil Defense–Cordillera also sought for a permanent site for its regional office and an evacuation center.
Aside from the 1,000 square meters in the Baterol area, the local government will be entitled to a portion of the 12,000 square meters along Loakan Road but it will subsequently use some 700 square meters as a replacement of the more than 500 square meters that the education department will be ceding to the city for the put up of the Aurora Hill district health center in Bayan Park.
BCDA will be entering into a deed of usufruct with the involved government agencies on this 12,000 square meters with city government serving as a witness, but in the case of the property near the Baterol area, the local government will be the main signatory to the deed of usufruct for the put up of the proposed national data center.
City Administrator Bonifacio dela Peña disclosed that based on the plans and programs of the structures that will be constructed by the various agencies in the said government center, the development cost of the area seems not to have been included in the cost estimates, thus, it will be the local government that might provide the funds needed for the development of the property prior to the commencement of the construction of the buildings of the government agencies.
He stipulated that funds for the construction of the buildings of the different government agencies seeking for a permanent site have been included as part of the annual budget of the said agencies for next year to pave the way for the establishment of the permanent offices of the same as the existing Baguio Justice Hall will serve as an extension of the City Hall instead of pursuing its P800 million City Hall annex building project. By Dexter A. See
