THE Cebu City Government will spend half of its proposed P50 billion budget for 2023 on constructing housing projects for informal settlers and those affected by the river easement recovery campaign.
Vice Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia said Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022, that this is the first step to turning into reality the Singapore-like vision of Mayor Michael Rama for Cebu City.
Garcia reasoned that Singapore and other first world countries started their economic development by doing the most important and basic thing -- providing housing for the poor.
Under the proposed 2023 budget, the City Government has proposed P24 billion for the construction of medium-rise buildings (MRBs) for its socialized housing program.
According to Garcia, being homeless or living in a house that is not legally one’s own can affect a person’s focus on providing education to their children and even their job.
“Kanang mga informal settlers who will now have a home, they will now be able to concentrate and focus on something more important than just thinking ‘naa pa ba koy balay ugma, ma demolish ba ko ugma (will I still have a house tomorrow, will my house be demolished tomorrow),’” said Garcia.
He added that once proper settlement can be given to these informal settlers, they can be more productive in their everyday lives and may be able to afford their own home someday.
“They will now be able to afford their own homes, so it is really a cycle. That is what Singapore did and all of these first world countries. They started with housing,” said Garcia.
Aside from providing better homes to the people, the City Government can now push through with its recovery of the three-meter easement along rivers and conduct river improvement projects.
In a recent interview with SunStar Cebu, Rama said he plans to construct over 200 MRBs in the city within his three-year term that will end in mid-2025.
Garcia, who is also chairman of the Waterfront Development Commission, recently said the commission is tasked to remove any structures obstructing the flow of water going to the city’s coastline.
This plan would help clear the way for the waterfront to feature the MRBs and a monorail system.
Garcia said they may put these MRBs in Barangay Pasil or Inayawan.
Based on the recently turned over MRB constructed by Cebu Landmasters Inc. in Barangay Lorega-San Miguel, the estimated cost to build an MRB is P115 million.
Called Walk-Up Sugbo 1, the 100-unit five-story development on a 1,350-square-meter property was turned over to the Cebu City Government last June. The floor area of each unit is 25 square meters.
The private developer built the MRB in compliance with the balanced housing development provision of the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992.