BAGUIO CITY – The local government’s plan to put up a multi-level pay parking structure in the old city auditorium site will pass through appropriate consultations with concerned stakeholders and the necessary procedures before its implementation to provide adequate parking spaces for the rapidly increasing number of motor vehicles owned by residents and tourists alike.
Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan pointed out what is important I for the local government to first work out the matter with the concerned stakeholders to agree on the type of structure that will be erected in the area before proceeding with the next step of working out the matter with the tourism department and its attached agencies.
“We have first to agree among ourselves and the concerned stakeholders on the appropriate green structures that will be reacted on the property before we will proceed with consulting with the concerned government agencies and sourcing out the needed funds for the eventual realization of the project,” Domogan stressed.
He said that it is useless for the local government to continue accepting unsolicited proposals for public-private partnership (PPP) regarding the implementation of the multi-level pay parking structure in the long identified parking site in Burnham park if there is no actual guarantee for the project to push through in the first place, thus, the need for the city to continue working things out with the concerned stakeholders on the agreeable type of structure that needs to be established in the area.
According to him, there is no truth to the misconception that he plans to put up a mall and a hotel in the rea because the plan for the old city auditorium site based on earlier studies conducted by European urban planners way back in 1995 and the proposed comprehensive Burnham park master development plan is for the establishment of a multi-level green parking structure in the area to accommodate the huge volume of motor vehicles that flock to the city’s central business district daily.
The city mayor asserted that concerned stakeholders must understand that the city needs a multi-level parking structure in the rea to serve as a central parking area for the continuous increase in the number of motor vehicles that contribute to the worsening traffic congestions around the central business district to allow people to be able to conveniently roam round the city without fear of having to be apprehended by traffic enforcers for illegal parking their vehicles long major streets.
A number of unsolicited proposals were already submitted by prospective investors regarding the planned put up of a multi-level pay parking structure in the area wherein some of the proposals included components of a mall and hotel among other feasible businesses that form part of the proposed structure.
However, Domogan emphasized that the unsolicited proposals remain as mere proposals which will still be subject to the conduct of numerous consultations with concerned stakeholders until such time that there will be agreement that will be reached on the acceptable type of structure that will be erected in the area to conform with the recommendations of previous studies that were conducted on how to maximize the use of the old city auditorium site to help address the city’s traffic woes.
He pointed out that the local government respects the position of various sectors of the city regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed multi-level parking structure but there should be point of agreement on the matter because the local government cannot compromise the greater interest of the majority of its populace on the matter, especially the so-called ‘silent majority.’
By Dexter A. See
