Some four hundred thirteen parking slots will be made available by the three proposed parking structures that will be erected in strategic portions of the 34-hectare Burnham Park complex to help in addressing the parking problems in the city’s premier tourist destination.
City Planning and Development Officer Arch. Donna R. Tabangin claimed that the 413 parking slots will be aside from the slots that will be made available once the city will be able to put up the proposed multi-level parking in the site of the old city auditorium.
The areas where the proposed parking structures will be incorporated will be under the multi-million Baguio Youth Convergence Center, under the Baguio tennis court following its rehabilitation and at the old wooden grandstand of the Baguio Athletic Bowl.
For his part, City Administrator Bonifacio dela Peña stated that it is now all systems go for the construction of the P394 Baguio Youth Convergence Center after the environment department interposed no objection to the planned construction of the said building within a portion of the Baguio Athletic Bowl that is within the Original Certificate of Title (OCT) No. 1 which is under the name of the Republic of the Philippines.
He added that the proposed put up of the parking structure at the site of the old wooden bleachers will be provided by the local government with some P110 million for the realization of the project that will be devoted for people frequenting the athletic bowl area.
According to him, the parking that will be offered under the Baguio tennis court will only be available once the proposed rehabilitation of the tennis court will be implemented which forms part of the city’s overall plan to improve the current state of the premier park with the assistance of the State-owned Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).
In the case of the put up of the parking structure at the site of the old city auditorium, the local government is considering offering the same through the public-private partnership via the solicited proposal so that it could be fast tracked to put order in the parking problems in various sections of the park.
Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong gave the members of the city’s finance committee and technical personnel to prepare the pertinent documents that will include the final terms of reference for the same to be immediately offered for the solicited proposal by the end of next month.
He admitted that the parking of vehicles in the different parts of the park is in disarray that is why there is a need to put order in the parking problems to help bring back the beauty of the tourist destination and address the perennial parking issues in the park.
The city was able to prepare a comprehensive master development plan of the Burnham Park to serve as the basis in the implementation of proposed development projects that will sustain the desired improvement in the premier tourist destination to help in gradually and safely reviving the local economy that had been heavily devastated by the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. By Dexter A. See
