CLOSE to 400 structure owners in Barangay Duljo-Fatima, Cebu City will be allowed to start rebuilding their houses by second week of February more than a month after a fire hit the area.

The Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) operations chief Genevieve Alcoseba said that they already completed the clearing of the fire site and they are currently doing the survey of lots in the three sitios where the fire occurred.

“We started the clearing last January 11 and our commitment was to complete it in one month. After that, the residents can already start rebuilding their houses,” she said.

The one month commitment means all works in the area prior to rebuilding will be completed by February 11.

Alcoseba said that part of the survey is the determination of the sizes of the home lots that each of the structure owners are entitled to.

DWUP is expected to come up with a subdivision plan for the area after the survey stage.

“Some, particularly those who used to occupy bigger lot space, might not be able to get the actual size of their home lots before the fire because we did several adjustments to allow us to establish road- right-of-ways,” she said.

The Christmas day fire destroyed houses along Sitios Buli, Ponyang, Mansanitas, Catwalk, Plastikan, Pasong Kabayo and San Pedro.

The City Government then recorded 391 houses razed during the fire and left 641 families, or 2,783 individuals, homeless.

Alcoseba said that while a big portion of the lot in the fire site is owned by the City, there are also private lot owners in the area.

“Some private lot owners in the area have to sacrifice a portion of their lots for the road-right-of-way because this is for their own good,” she said.

The City will establish wider roads in the area which has at least 6.5 meters width and three-meter wide pathways to provide more access to fire trucks and other emergency vehicles.