BAGUIO CITY – The local government will be preparing the needed designs for the put up of multi-level parking structures that will feature ‘green engineering’ to serve as an added attraction in certain parts of the city when realized.
Councilor Benny Bomogao, chairman of the City Council Committee on Public Utilities, Traffic and Transport Legislation, said the local legislative body is supportive of the long overdue plan of the city to establish multi-level parking areas in strategic areas in the central business district area or even in its outskirts to effectively and efficiently address the parking problems of motorists going around the city.
However, he claimed that it will be best for the concerned offices of the local government to prepare the necessary plans and specifications for the multi-level parking area with primordial consideration of ‘ green engineering’ so that will serve as a basis in sourcing out the required budget for the project.
If the local government will not be able to fund the project, he claimed that the project will be opened to interested investors through the city’s existing public-private partnership ordinance.
On the other hand, the local legislator pointed out that the concerned departments of the city must be strict in the provision of parking spaces for buildings that will be constructed in the central business district area and other parts of the city so that the said spaces will serve their purpose and not to be converted to commercial spaces.
Further, building owners who were found to have converted their supposed parking spaces to commercial areas must be compelled to return the slots to their original purposes to help lessen the wayward parking of motor vehicles along major roads that obstruct the smooth flow of traffic around the city.
Among the possible sites for the proposed multi-level parking structures will be at the existing Ganza pay parking area along Harrison Road and in the former site of the city auditorium.
He said individuals or groups who own properties that could accommodate pay parking facilities are also encouraged to be actively involved in the realization of the project by offering their properties for possible lease or for them to make pay parking as a business by putting up the needed multi-level structure complaint to ‘green engineering.’
He admitted that motor vehicle owners simply park their vehicles on major roads or even in crowded places that contribute to the worsening traffic congestions around the city primarily because of the absence of sufficient parking areas for the growing number of vehicle owners due to the rampant conversion of building parking spaces to commercial areas for greater profit.
The local government is also considering the put up of its own multi-level parking structure in the vacant lot near the Baguio fire department to address the parking problems being encountered by the city for government vehicles and people transacting businesses with the offices within the city hall area.
By Dexter A. See
