BAGUIO CITY – The local government needs t least P27 million to build multi-story indoor sports structure within the Baguio athletic Bowl to serve as a venue for the conduct of local, regional, national and internal sports events being hosted by the city and as training ground for the development of future local athletes.
Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan said that it is unfortunate that what is readily available for the said project is around P60 million which was allocated by the local finance officers from the previous budgets of the city, thus, concerned officials are still sourcing out the balance for the immediate implementation of the long overdue endeavor that will help aggressively promote the city as a potential host for various indoor sports competitions.
“We are grateful to the unwavering and uncompromising support being extended by our private sector partners to the sustainable development of sports in our city. We want to continuously improve our existing sports facilities and add up to the existing structures to allow Baguio City to continue to excel in the field of sports in various levels of competition,” Domogan stressed.
He claimed that the proposed multi-level indoor sports building will be constructed between the Baguio Athletic Bowl grandstand and several structures of the Baguio City High School and fronting the swimming pool so that the pace will serve as a one-stop sports center for different sports disciplines.
According to him, the local government and concerned stakeholders will able to learn a lot of lessons from the city’s hosting of the 218 Batang Pinoy national championships that is why one of the priority projects that will be implemented by the city is for the realization of the construction of the proposed indoor sports structure so that the conduct of future sports competitions will be confined in a single venue to attract more people to visit and avail of the use of the city’s sports facilities.
Earlier, the department of Public works and Highs – Baguio City District Engineering office (DPWH-BCDEO) and the local government partnered for the implementation of the multi-million rubberized track oval project for the Baguio Athletic Bowl that boosted the chances of the city host the annual conduct of the Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (CARAA) for three consecutive times thereby helping boost the image of the city as one of the regional sports centers in the country to date.
Domogan revealed that the plans and specifications prepared by the City buildings and architecture office (CBAO) showed that the funding requirements for the project is nearly P3 million that is why efforts are being done by the local government to make available the initial funds to start the implementation of the project that will help promote the city as a venue for the conduct of sports competitions vital in making it as one of the preferred hosts of different competitions in the coming years.
He underscored that Baguio City has available and overflowing talents in the field of combative sports that is why there is a need for the local government to find the appropriate ways and means to convince athletes to also be involved in other sports disciplines for them to remain as of the feared athletes in sports not only in the local and regional levels but also in the national and international scenes.
He added that one of the plans of the local government to be able to make viable the required funds is to directly coordinate with national sports officials for them to be able to extend funding support aside from seeking other funds sources from concerned government agencies in the future.
By Dexter A. See
