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DAVAO CITY—Tagum
City’s futuristic city hall may well stand, not only for
its awesome architecture, but also for its
multimillion-peso bold preparation to be an
environmentally sustainable urban center.
At least
two big-funded projects on environment would help its
local government to anchor its future on sustainability.
One is
the impending move to convert or phase out the old
two-stroke tricycles still providing the main transport
needs of the city of about 200,000 residents, to more
oil-efficient four-stroke engines next year.
The
other is a water-system project that would contract the
maintenance of the water treatment and distribution
facility to a private corporation, a move that was
already being tested in Cagayan de Oro City.
Edgar
Seronay, senior assistant vice president and head of the
Southeastern Mindanao Regional Marketing Center of the
Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), said the bank
has already approved the city government’s application
of a loan of P100 million.
The bulk
of the money would be allocated to a buffer fund for
drivers, Seronay said, adding that the city intended to
save for both the city government and the public
tricycle drivers the problem on the increasing cost of
gasoline “aside from the obvious that this power source
is not sustainable anymore.”
“This is
a wise environmental move of the city government,” he
said.
Aside
from this project, the city government also planned to
copy the P650-million bulk water project of Cagayan de
Oro City, a potable water system project patterned after
the concept of the independent power producers (IPP) of
the National Power Corp.
“This
water project would give to a company or a corporation
the maintenance of the water facilities and would be in
charge of the distribution to the client households and
industries,” Seronay said.
In
Cagayan de Oro City, the bulk water project was applied
by Rio Verde, which loan application was approved early
this year.
“Tagum
City is planning to copy this experience of Cagayan,” he
said.
He said
DBP would welcome big-ticket projects in the area of
environment conservation and rehabilitation and on
renewable energy.
With the
two environment-related projects of Tagum City, he said
this capital town of Davao del Norte would make it
easier to plan for its sustainability.
“Tagum
City could become a model for many local government
units,” said Rey Magno Teves, a board director of DBP.
Its
future city hall would be built at a cost of P200
million, with construction to start in the middle of
next year. The area in Apokon, east of downtown Tagum,
had already been cleared, according to Jeanevieve
Abangan, area information center manager of the
Philippine Information Agency.
The city
hall was designed with circular inner chambers with two
vertical structures at both wings. The entrance could be
accessed both from the ground and from two flyover
lanes. Two net-like arcs cut across the midsection, and
an inverted truncated cone would adorn its vast
cemented front yard. |
