BAGUIO CITY – The summer capital of the Philippines will be expecting voluminous influx of both domestic and foreign visitors this Christmas season.
Along with the said voluminous visitors is the problem on parking space in the city.
To address the parking problem, in his weekly forum, mayor Mauricio Domogan disclosed that the city has identified parking areas to be utilized by the motorists.
Apart from the existing parking areas, government properties like the Baguio City National High School grounds, Quezon elementary school, frontage of the PFVR building and the former city auditorium will be utilized as parking areas.
Domogan has also requested the private schools and the GSIS president Robert Vergara to allow the city to use their property as parking area this Christmas season.
He stressed that police personnel will be designated in the different identified parking areas to ensure safety of the motor vehicles.
The realization of the proposed off-street parking facility at Melvin Jones football grounds will take time because of several oppositions, thus, Domogan said that the Technical Working Group is still working on the terms of reference for the put up of the multi-level parking building within the Ganza property in order to help in decongesting the city roads from the excessive volume of vehicles that contribute to traffic jams in the city.
On the other hand, the mayor urged barangay officials to address the problem on parking along barangay roads by allotting available lots within their jurisdiction as a common parking space for lease to residents with vehicles.
“I encourage the barangay officials to look for empty lots and designate the same as common parking spaces where vehicle owners can park for a fee. This could solve the parking problem and at the same time become a revenue source for the barangays,” the mayor said.
Once the development of the city market will push through, the city is also looking for the possibility of putting up one or two floors centralized parking space in the market.
“We are doing what we can to put up necessary parking spaces in the city,” Domogan said./Jho Arranz
