Mayor Benjamin Magalong urged punong barangays in the city to identify and reserve areas in their barangays that can be developed into parks.
In the Oct. 8 meeting of the City Development Council which he chairs, the mayor promised to help the barangays put up their own public gardens and recreation spots and to fix existing parks during his term.
“The only condition is that you will help the city government maintain these parks,” the mayor said.
A string of park development projects is in the pipeline for implementation starting this year including Burnham Park and Mines View Park.
The Burnham Park master development plan prepared by a 25-man technical working group led by Arch. Joseph Alabanza and Councilor Maria Mylen Victoria Yaranon amounting to P350 million has been submitted to the mayor for approval and endorsement to the city council.
The city is negotiating the funding requirement with the Department of Budget Management and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.
The Mines View Park rehabilitation, meanwhile, is targeted for implementation this November with an initial funding of P14.5 million from the Annual Investment Plan of the city in 2018.
The mayor said the plan prepared by the City Buildings and Architecture Office will be revised to accommodate the citizens’ suggestions to reduce concrete pavements and expand the planted areas and to also include the suggestion of Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda to construct a mine tunnel as a special feature of the park so named for providing a panorama of the old mining sites.
The plan will also be endorsed to the city council for approval.
Next on the list will be the rehabilitation of Bayan Park.
The mayor, in the management committee meeting Oct. 8 tasked the CBAO to speed up the conceptual plan for presentation and possible funding by the Office of Sen. Grace Poe.
The City Environment and Parks Management Office earlier said the park will be spruced up and will be given distinct identity and come-ons to lure residents and tourists.
The mayor said development is also underway for the park at Salud Mitra and the erstwhile dumpsite in Irisan which will be turned into an eco-park using the P18M from the city coffers.
As to the tree park owned by the Government Service Insurance System, the mayor said the GSIS has approved the development of the area into a full-blown park using the city’s walkway design with no counterpart fund required from the city government.
The Cepmo earlier announced plans to further improve the Botanical-Centennial Park in cooperation with the Filipino-Chinese community and other sister cities.
They will also create new parks mostly eco-parks and tree parks, bamboo and bonsai parks in strategic locations. – Aileen P. Refuerzo
