The city council is eyeing to give incentives to building owners that plant and maintain vegetation on rooftops and building walls.
In a proposed ordinance, which was approved on first reading, buildings that devote their roof area for plants and trees, either with an extensive or intensive soil player, or devote their wall area for green one shall be entitled to a discount on their real property tax based on certain schemes.
Those that devote 25 percent of the roof or wall area to vegetation shall enjoy five percent discount while those that have 50 percent of the roof or wall area shall be equivalent to 10 percent discount.
Structures with 75 percent of the roof or wall area devoted to vegetation shall be enjoy 15 percent discount and those with roof or wall area that are 100 percent devoted to plants shall enjoy 20 percent discount.
The ordinance stated the discount shall be available for 10 years starting from the initial assessment of the structure.
Owners of buildings shall make sure that the vegetation is maintained to ensure its compliance to the green roof and green wall policy of the local government.
The grantees of the discount or the real property tax exemption in the ordinance shall submit various documents as proof to the City Assessor’s Office.
Among the requirements include green roof, five pieces of 5R pictures or photographs of the area devoted to plants and trees, one shot from the north angle, one shot from the east angle, one shot from the west angle, and one shot from the south angle and for green walls, five pieces of 5R pictures or photographs of the area devoted to the green wall, one shot from the left side, one shot from the front side and one shot from the right side and for both, a certification from the barangay council concerned of the construction and p-roper maintenance of the green roof or wall.
According to the proposal, installing green walls along with a green rooftop is a key strategy in achieving the benefits of having environment-friendly buildings; reduce urban heat and noise, improve exterior air quality, improve energy efficiency, and increase aesthetic variation to name a few. – PIO release
