AS I suggested to the past administration, and I dare challenge now the new city leadership of Bacolod City that it is imperative it completes the updating of its Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) and Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP).
The CLUP will provide the present city leadership with a comprehensive guide to improving its spatial planning and formulation of new zoning policies to ensure that the city becomes truly livable, ecosystems-friendly, inclusive, smart, sustainable, and resilient.
This is not for compliance's sake, but to become effectively responsive to the pressures of urbanization, growing population, new investment growth centers, connectivity of people and services, and more efficient and cost-effective governance.
As a significant part of the growth corridors of central Philippines, from Iloilo, San Carlos, Cebu, Tacloban, Tagbilaran, and Dumaguete, even all the way to Mindanao, Bacolod city government must carefully and effectively balance the utilization of its lands and spaces to meet the demands of a growing metropolis, the development growth corridors, and preserve a balanced ecosystem.
It cannot let profit raking motivation of the speculators, automobile manufacturers and distributors, and real estate developers dictate the tempo of development in the city, but unleash the capability of a city-led development where humans are at the center of everything, and humans live in harmony with nature, not the vice versa where humans are sidelined by automobiles-dominated main roads and streets, gated plush subdivisions, swallowed by big malls.
Most important, a CLUP will raise the capability of the city to avert disasters and calamities, and bounce back and recover quickly after each major disaster and calamity.
On the other hand, CDP will provide the city government with the right framework where to put its resources and services and as well as development investments to ensure the meeting of the growing demands for housing, power, water, jobs, health, and infrastructure services.
Recently, I talked to some people in the city concerning the above. I shared with a friend close to city government decision-makers, that the city must be serious and professional if it wants to transform the city to become a truly livable, human-friendly, balanced ecosystem, inclusive, smart, sustainable, and resilient.
I also met some people from the city task force on housing for the informal sector. I advise them to be guided well by the City updated CLUP. Then focus on developing an onsite integrated community development plan for informal sectors where it combines vertical-horizontal built designs and integrates other important basic components such as power, water, and sustainable livelihoods.
Of course, they and the city government must come up with mutually beneficial terms of payment.
As a development economist and planner and sociologist, I believe that the city has enough expertise and interest in the matter.
All it needs is to bring them together, engage in healthy, realistic, and scientific discussions, and draw up the results into proposed plans, programs, projects, and policies for the city's chief executive and legislative body.
Even the issue of Ceneco's inutility to address the power requirements of the city and neighboring areas can easily be addressed through constructive and directive discussions of well-motivated planners, capable service providers, and interest groups, and not left to emotionally-driven propagandists from whose ever side of the fence.*
.