BONTOC, Mountain Province – The provincial government decided to shelve the implementation of the P15 million parking project within the Provincial Capitol grounds to pave the way for the conduct of the beautification of the area.
Gov. Bonifacio C. Lacwasan, Jr. said that the local government will pursue the beautification of the area which was the result of the consultations that had been conducted for the purpose of getting the sentiments of the people on the proposed put up of the parking area to help in providing parking spaces for vehicles in the municipality.
“We will work out the realignment of the remaining funds for other high impact development programs of the province. We heard the people of Bontoc and they were against the project that is why we opted to shelve the put up of the parking area and look for another project where the remaining funds will be used,” Gov. Lacwasan stressed.
The governor added that the provincial government will complete the beautification of the area where the proposed parking structure was supposed to be built pursuant to the desire of the people as an offshoot of the previous consultations that were conducted for the said purpose.
He claimed that the put up of the parking areas right at the heart of the municipality was supposed to be the contribution of the provincial government to address the absence of sufficient parking spaces in the municipality which has been the repeated complaints of motorists visiting the province’s capital town.
According to him, the provincial government will continue to invest in the implementation of high impact development projects in the different parts of the province wherein the available resources will be used to bankroll the priority projects that have been included for funding under the province’s annual investment plan and whatever projects that will not be provided with funding support will be submitted to concerned national agencies for inclusion in the allocation of their available resources.
He assured concerned stakeholders that the provincial government will sustain the conduct of consultations with the different municipal governments and concerned sectors for the identification of their priority development projects that will be provided funds for implementation.
Earlier, the provincial government appropriated some P15 million from the previous annual budget of the province purposely to bankroll the put up of the parking area right within the premises of the Provincial Capitol.
However, concerned sectors in the capital town expressed their vehement opposition to the project because of the alleged massive earth moving activities that will be done and proposed that the same will be retained as a flower garden.
Lacwasn emphasized that the provincial government shelved the parking project to show to the people that the province is mindful of the clamor of the majority of the constituents on the implementation of priority programs and projects that have impact to the lives of the people, especially those that are directly affected.
One of the problems of the capital town is the absence of available parking areas that force motorists to park their vehicles on the sides of the roads that cause the occurrence of traffic congestions. By HENT
