THE Dagupan City Council has endorsed the construction of a six-hectare common terminal for public utility vehicles on Jose R. de Venecia Expressway Extension in Barangay Tapuac.
Councilor Luis Samson Jr. said on November 21 that this is consistent with the ordinance he sponsored in the City Council seeking the establishment of a common terminal for all public utility vehicles entering the city.
He said all buses, mini-buses and passenger vans were already given by the City Council an ultimatum to vacate their terminals in the downtown area by end of December this year.
All these terminals, he said, are violating a standing city ordinance, enacted way back in 1977, that prohibits terminals whose entrance and exit are located within 100 meters of a street intersection.
The ordinance was recently amended, with the distance of 100 meters from an intersection increased to 200 meters.
Samson said the City Council gave Servillano P. Dayo of SDP Corporation the go signal to build the common terminal.
Another applicant was Dr. Abraham Coquia, who proposed to build a common terminal on his family's lot in the south-end of Arellano Street but which is near a street intersection and the Dawel Bridge.
Samson said the proposed common terminal to be built under private initiative must conform with all the regulations as to facilities for the convenience of passengers, to be prescribed by the City Government.
Public Order and Safety Office Chief Carlito Ocampo said the establishment of a common terminal became more pressing with the impending closure of the vehicle holding area on M.H. del Pilar Street not because it is located within 200 meters from a street intersection but because the land is now owned by ShoeMart Inc. which is now building a mall near the area. (PNA)