BAGUIO CITY – The city’s legislative body assured it will support the proposed development of the Baguio City public market and the 34-hectare Burnham Park complex to significantly improve the stats of places being frequented by residents and visitors alike.
Vice Mayor Faustino A. Olowan said the members of the City Council are willing to approve the development plans for both the public market and the Burnham Park once the same will be submitted to the august body for appropriate action.
Earlier, members of the technical working group tasked to prepare the separate conceptual development plans of the proposed development of the public market and Burnham Park presented to city officials the initial development plans for both areas during an executive-legislative meeting last Monday.
“We will support the initiative of the city government to work out the development of our public market which is long overdue and Burnham Park, the premier park of the city, so we can improve the state of our tourist spots for us to sustain the growth of the city’s tourism industry,” Vice Mayor Olowan stressed.
Among the 15-point collective agenda of the present administration include the proposed modernization of the city public market and a revitalized tourism industry through the improved state of the city’s existing parks, one of which is the 34-hectare Burnham Park.
The vice mayor stated that city legislators are willing to act on the development plans that will be submitted to them for appropriate action so that there will be unnecessary interruptions and delays in the implementation of the present administration’s priority programs, projects and activities geared towards improving the state of the city’s environment and tourism industry.
The detailed plans of the development of the public market and the Burnham Park will be submitted to the City Council for approval once consultations and public hearings had been conducted to get the social acceptability of such high impact projects of the city government.
According to him, members of the city legislative body were impressed on the initial presentation of the conceptual development plans of both the public market and the Burnham Park when the same were presented but there is still a long way to go in terms of having the social acceptability of the city’s concerned sectors.
The city government’s technical working group tapped the services of young and dynamic architects who assisted the members in the preparation of the conceptual development plans considering they were only given two months to be ready with such plans for initial scrutiny.
Olowan emphasized the development of the city’s public market is already long overdue, especially that the city government won the case for the pursuit of the market development, thus, the need to pursue the same so that residents and tourists alike can will be able to enjoy having to transact business inside a well improved market facility while Burnham Park also needs to be improved to be at par with similar parks in other parts of the country.
By Dexter A. See