THE Mandaue City Government will build a P1-billion civic park that will house the new City Hall and other government offices in the first quarter of next year.
This was announced by Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing during his first State of the City Address (Soca) yesterday.
The mayor said the City will increase its budget for infrastructure spending in 2018.
He said that 31 percent of the Annual Investment Plan and the bulk of the City’s cash in bank, which amounts to P2.3 billion, will be set aside for it.
Among the projects that the City plans to implement will be the civic park where the new City Hall building will be located as well as the offices of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and National Bureau of Investigation.
“We have outgrown our City Hall and our offices are scattered, making it inconvenient for our constituents. We need to centralize our offices to better serve the public,” the mayor said.
The civic park will be located behind the Mandaue City Sports Complex, which means that the City will demolish the condemned public market building and remove the tennis court in the area.
The civic park will also have a running track.
The City is already talking to financial institutions for a possible loan to back the project.
Based on their initial discussions, Quisumbing said the banks offered the City a 15-year period to pay off the loan at P100 million per year.
He believes the City can pay for it because of its good financial standing.
“The City’s tax revenue earnings have increased by 12 percent compared with the same period last year. Earnings from other revenues have also increased by 12.9 percent,” he said.
“We also enjoy high trust ratings among financial institutions such as the DBP (Development Bank of the Philippines), which extended a standby loan of P1 billion, and P1.5 billion from the Land Bank of the Philippines,” he added.
The City is also working on the drainage master plan, which is expected to be completed in October this year.
Quisumbing said that no drainage projects will be implemented in the city if it is not in line with the master plan.
In terms of traffic management, Quisumbing said the City will purchase P2 million worth of materials to improve the road, road markings, traffic signs, and traffic barriers.
He also reported that the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (Team) office collected P13,773,316 worth of fines from 73,555 traffic violations.
In an interview, Quisumbing said he wants to give a portion of the amount to the traffic enforcers who have been working hard.
Glenn Antigua, Team’s chief for operations, welcomed the mayor’s pronouncement, saying that most of the traffic enforcers are job-order employees and who are not receiving hazard pay.
The mayor did not include in his Soca, though, Mandaue’s plan to purchase the Cebu International Convention Center. He was informed by Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III that the matter will still be taken up during the Provincial Board’s session next week.
In the area of peace and order, Quisumbing commended the Mandaue City Police Office for their anti-criminality efforts.
For waste management, Quisumbing said that the City is committed to close the sanitary landfill in Barangay Umapad and will replace it with an Integrated Waste Processing Center.
The mayor’s Soca, which was held at the Mandaue City Sports and Cultural Complex, was attended by over 4,000 employees and public and private officials. (FMG)