By Leonardo V. Micua
DAGUPAN CITY, (PNA)–A ranking city official here confirmed that the construction of a modern city hall to replace the old existing building as part of the agenda of Mayor Belen Fernandez for a modern Dagupan.
City Planning and Development Coordinator Romeo Rosario said the mayor already asked help from the Architects Association of the Philippines, Dagupan City chapter in connection with her plan to build a new city hall to replace the old one that is oftentimes flooded every time there is high tide, occasioned by heavy rains.
Rosario said that as gleaned from the plans submitted by the UAP chapter so far, one of the proposed locations for the new Dagupan City Hall is at the city plaza and any other feasible site outside the downtown area.
At the city plaza, UAP prepared a plan for a five-storey city hall that can accommodate all offices with an adjacent convention center to be built nearby.
Mayor Fernandez is eyeing to put up the new city hall complex away from the now crowded central business district to prevent traffic congestion, said Rosario.
Fernandez told newsmen earlier that Dagupan is now far behind adjacent towns and cities that already built their modern and high-rise government centers.
The UAP also prepared a plan for an urban renewal of Dagupan’s central business district that need to be implemented because the frequent floods continue to hurt business establishments in the city’s principal street A.B. Fernandez Avenue.
Rosario, speaking during the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters sa Pilipinas (KBP) last Thursday, said because of the frequency of floods on A.B. Fernandez Avenue, it is now slowly being surpassed by a parallel road, Perez Boulevard, which luckily was spared from the flood caused by rise of tidal water.
Thus the need for the urban renewal program which is supported by all traders and establishment owners in the downtown area, Rosario said.
Also planned by the UAP at the request of Mayor Fernandez is a rehabilitation plan of the Pantal River and a plan to convert the island village Pugaro into a resort.
Rosario admitted that all these plans require millions if not a billions of pesos to implement but all these can be done on a long term basis with the help of President Banigno Aquino III and national government agencies.