P10 million earmarked to improve Mines View building

BAGUIO CITY – The city government earmarked at least P10 million from this year’s P233 million supplemental budget purposely to fund the implementation of new innovations within the 4-storey Mines View multipurpose building to satisfy the clamor of over 150 vendors housed in the facility for more clients.
Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan said designers from the City Building and Architecture Office (CBAO) recently conducted the final consultations with the affected vendors on what design to implement so that buyers visiting the park will be enticed to visit the different souvenir shops situated inside the facility.
“The city will continue to dialogue with the vendors doing business in the building in order to get their consensus on what type of improvement will be introduced in order to help attract the influx of more tourists to buy their products,” Domogan said.
Initially, Domogan said the city plans to open up the frontage of the building facing the park so that visitors going to the park will have easy access to the different stalls housed in the structure.
However, the local chief executive said the city is still willing to listen to the additional plight of the vendors so that it will be incorporated in the design being prepared by CBAO to address the concerns of the vendors.
Earlier, vendors had been pleading to the city government to do something in order to make the building open to local residents and visitors going to the park in order to buy souvenir products for their loved ones.
It can be recalled that the city government spent around P51 million to build the 4-storey structure in order to house the over 200 vendors that were scattered around the park that resulted in the delisting of Mines View Park as a park from the stand point of the Department of Tourism.
Aside from opening up the frontage of the structure in order to attract the influx of visitors to buy their products, Domogan said the city government is also implementing the fencing of the perimeters of the park to prevent unscrupulous individuals from encroaching into the park and disrupting the scenic view.
Furthermore, the City Environment and Parks Management Office is also working out the implementation of around P4 million in order to help restore the beauty of the park that would help convince the tourism department to restore Mines View Park as one of the listed parks in the city.
Domogan appealed to the vendors who had not been earning sufficient income since they transferred into the multipurpose building to be more patient since the CBAO is about to implement the renovation project that will benefit them, especially during the expected peak in tourism arrivals for the various crowd drawing events in the city starting early next year.
He claimed that what will delay the implementation of the project is the procurement process whereby it will have to pass through the rigors of public bidding enshrined in the provisions of the government procurement law which is expected to extend up to two to four months.