BONTOC, Mountain Province – The provincial government will be holding a public consultation relative to the planned put up of a parking structure within the vicinity of the Provincial Capitol on Tuesday, January 30, 2018.
Provincial officials decided to call for the conduct of a public hearing after receiving complaints from various sectors questioning the implementation of the parking project in the Capitol grounds which is considered a heritage area.
The parking project has been proposed to provide adequate parking spaces for motorists in the capital town to avoid congestions along the narrow roads.
The provincial government earmarked P15 million for the possible underground parking project within the town plaza but the same was not feasible, thus, the project was reportedly transferred to the Capital gardens for practicality purposes.
Catholic priest Fr. Marcial Lloyd C. Castañeda claimed that aside from the alleged lack of public consultation or public information about the project, there are no available signages providing the necessary information about the project for the people to know about it.
However, residents and visitors alike expressed their support to the put up of the provincial parking project to provide sufficient parking spaces for motorists and eventually lessen the congestions along the narrow roads of the capital town because the occurrence of daily traffic jams greatly affect the conduct of socio-economic activities of the people.
The results of the upcoming public consultation will serve as a guide to the provincial officials in deciding whether or not to pursue the implementation of the provincial parking project which had already been provided with the required budget this year.
Concerned sectors in the municipality had been clamouring for the put up of sufficient parking structures that will accommodate the huge volume of motor vehicles frequenting the capital town daily ferrying people to transact business with the different public and private offices.
The provincial government started implementing the parking project wherein units of heavy equipment were seen excavating portions of the Capitol gardens to pave the way for the realization of the project in the coming months.
Some sectors are suggesting to the provincial government to build the desired provincial parking structure in one of its properties outside the Capitol area to realize the decongestion of the narrow roads and streets and for provincial officials and employees to be ferried by government vehicles to their offices.
The insufficient parking spaces around the capital town has become a major problem of both the concerned government agencies and the provincial and municipal governments following the enormous growth of the population side by side with the significant increase in the number of motor vehicles frequenting the municipality for people to transact business with the private and public offices.
Provincial officials are optimistic that the outcome of the public consultations regarding the provincial parking project will translate to the betterment of the greater majority of the populace instead of suiting the interest of only a few individuals.
By HENT
