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CAGAYAN de Oro City Hall will continue to pursue land-banking to provide relocation for displaced residents even as it sees reclamation as a viable option to expand the city’s land for future developments. .
“We need land banking, especially with the infrastructure projects we have now that have resulted in the displacement of settlers living in dangerous areas where they should not have lived in the first place. But still, the burden of relocation is on us and we have to help them find houses, so the land-banking must continue,” said the head of the City Planning and Development Office Ramil Balquin.
During the July 6 program “Planning and Development: In Focus” sponsored by the City Information Office, Balquin said that it is necessary for City Hall to see the results of the latest land inventory in Cagayan de Oro City to see if are there more suitable places. to allocate for relocation.
“So why do we need to update our Comprehensive Land Use Plan,” Balquin said.
Balquin said that Mayor Rolando Uy gave them until December this year to update the CLUP of the city.
The city’s land banking program involving the purchase of lands at City Hall was started in the early 90s under former mayor Pablo ‘Ambing’ Magtajas and was intended to provide a relocation site to the displaced.
With the growing population due to many people from the surrounding areas moving into the city, Balquin recognized that the challenge of providing land has become a problem.
“Obviously our land area can only accommodate so much. That’s why Mayor (Uy) saw the potential for us to expand our land through reclamation. And there are those who are interested to invest and there are mechanisms in place (for this),” he said.
Uy ordered the creation of the City Reclamation Board this year which he chaired with Councilor Edgar Cabanlas.
The Uy administration is looking to develop an initial 20 hectares of the proposed realignment of the ongoing coastal road project from Barangay Gusa to Cugman.
“We are still going through the technical consultation with the PRA (Philippine Reclamation Authority) about this,” said Balquin. (Stephen Capillas of the City Information Office)
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