THE National Government is set to build 320 housing units in the form of two-storey, low-cost condominiums, in Barangay Tina-an, City of Naga, as relocation for landslide survivors.
Officials of the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chose the barangay even though the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) 7 classified it as highly susceptible to landslides.
But City of Naga Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong said that as Barangay Tina-an was chosen as a potential housing site, it will be up to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to determine if the landslide-affected village will be safe for construction once their geohazard assessment will be concluded this week.
In an interview yesterday, NHA General Manager Marcelino Escalada told reporters that the 320 new housing units was ordered following the visit of President Rodrigo Duterte to the City of Naga two days after the landslide.
Escalada, along with HUDCC Chairman Eduardo del Rosario, met with Mayor Chiong yesterday to discuss the proposal.
Escalada said that the 320 new housing units are part of the first phase of the recovery and housing efforts after the landslide in the City of Naga and will cost at least P200 million
Prioritized in the first phase of the project are those that were directly hit by the landslide in Sitios Sindulan and Tagaytay, particularly those surviving families whose members were killed or injured.
The second phase, which will be funded through Cebu Rep. Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas’s (Cebu,1st) congressional budget, will be set for those who were displaced but not directly hit by the landslide.
Escalada said the design of each unit will include a 28-square-meter floor area, with single partition, tiled floors and one bathroom.
They decided to incorporate a two-storey, low-cost condominium-type housing units as a way to maximize the available property.
The City has identified two areas: a Gawad Kalinga village in Sitio Tapon and the Balili Property.
The GK village is just 800 meters from the landslide area in Sitio Sindulan, while the Balili Property is more than a kilometer away.
If all documentary and land requirements are immediately satisfied, Escalada foresees that the construction of the 320 units will be done in at least six months.
But Del Rosario, in a separate interview, said they can only start construction if the DENR issues an assessment report and clears the proposed site.
In an interview, Mayor Chiong said she had asked the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for an updated list of all evacuees so that they can start categorizing them on who would receive first priority.
She admitted that it will be a challenge on how they would provide temporary shelters for the evacuees especially that once the DENR gives them the go signal to build the housing units, it may take three to four months before these can be used. (JKV)