BAGUIO City Mayor Mauricio Domogan confirmed knowledge of the dinosaur theme park proposal for Burnham Park but passed the buck to the Public Private Partnership for the People Initiative [P4] committee to decide on its merits.
The formal proposal sent by Thermozone Philippines Corporation's vice president Eduardo Meneses detailed a lease proposal spanning 25 years pending with the P4 committee since August 8.
Meneses wrote to mayor Domogan and councilor Elmer Datiun, as chair of the committee in tourism, and stated intent to develop the Pine Trees of the World area into a dinosaur theme park and museum at no cost of the city.
“There will no single tree to be cut, rather it is our plan to plant more trees and increase biodiversity,” the letter stressed.
Thermozone currently operates Dinosaur Island in Clark, Pampanga and another in nearby Tuba, Benguet eying a 3,000 square meter within Burnham Park.
Meneses continued to pitch the lease agreement will be initially set for three years at a P60,000 a month rental fee but increasing to P100,000 if renewed to another 25 years with provisions of a contract review every decade.
“Our company is committed to build a world class theme park that will give the thrill and excitement to our valued guests and visitors to the city of Baguio.”
Thermozone’s proposal presented by Meneses and Willy Pleras, theme park director, tagged the area as the “Dinosuars Island Burnham Park Baguio,” situated in a forested area near Athletic Bowl.
Members of P4 are Councilors Maylen Yaranon, Elmer Datuin, Leandro Yangot and Faustino Olowan with P4 chair and city budget officer Letty Clemente, city planning and development officer, Evelyn Cayat, council secretary, Berner Bengwayan, Nazita Banez of the City Buildings and Architecture Office [CBAO], City Engineer Edgar Olpindo, Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers, Jose Tagudar, City Environment and Parks Management Office head, Cordelia Lacsamana.
“The park will be designed for us to understand better the dinosaurs and what transpired in the pre- historic times, puppet dinosaurs will roam around the place. People will have a feel that they are in a different world,” added the letter.
Thermozone stated besides the historical museums and the popular venues like Camp John Hay, Burnham Park and strawberry farms, there is not much famous theme parks within the area. Some exhibits like BenCab Museum and Mines View Park are basically exciting and fun to see but nothing is more awesome and heart pounding in seeing life-size dinosaurs that come alive.
The proposal says the best time to open the park is December to capture the influx of tourists during Christmas season.
“Our artisans are famous for their replica fabrication of various Italian artifacts such as Da Vinci’s precious creations. They area also the producers of Dinosaur puppets in the country, the so called animatronics type of dinosaurs and the people who created the Dinosaur island theme park in Clark and in Tuba,” the proposal added.
Thermozone revealed development cost incurred for the two theme parks amounted to P67 million for the Burnham site and another P15 million will be needed to fund the purchase of parts and components to locally fabricate the mechanical mascots and to transfer, install the animatronics dinosaurs from Tuba. Themed perimeter fencing, parking for buses, grand façade entrance and landscaping in the area will also create a Jurassic effect for the park.
Thermozone’s objective is to create a quality venue for tourists.
“It is too tiring and time consuming to go to Tuba, Benguet or the Banawe Rice Terraces for their friends and family fieldtrip, “Our Dinosaur Island will become an alternative package with local hotels and restaurants to complete and enjoy their whole day in the cool city. The plan is to sell at least 100,000 tickets per year to both private and public schools plus another 300,000 walk in visitors per annum on its second year of operations. The plan for the first year will be to orient tour guides and hotels for oculars and free visits to the park and convince them to package as a must see activity,” it added.
Yaranon has since sounded the alarm on the proposal and has signified her opposition to the plans, adamant about her stand on the preservation and protection of Burnham Park and open spaces.