PROPOSED BURHAM PARKING STRUCTURES TO PROVIDE 413 SLOTS
15 June 2021 – Some four hundred thirteen parking slots will be available by the three proposed parking structures to be erected in strategic portions of the 34-hectare Burnham Park complex to help address the parking problems in the city’s premier tourist destination.
City Planning and Development Officer Arch. Donna R. Tabangin claimed that the 413 parking slots will be in addition to the slots in the proposed multi-level parking at the site of the old city auditorium.
The areas where these proposed parking structures will be incorporated in plan for the multi-million Baguio Youth Convergence Center, under the Baguio tennis court following its rehabilitation and at the old wooden grandstand of the Baguio Athletic Bowl.
For his part, City Administrator Bonifacio dela Pen֮a stated that it is now all systems go for the construction of the P394-million Baguio Youth Convergence Center after the environment department interposed no objection to the planned construction of the said building within a portion of the Baguio Athletic Bowl that is within the Original Certificate of Title (OCT) No. 1 in the name of the Republic of the Philippines.
He added that the proposed parking structure at the site of the old wooden bleachers will be provided by the city government with some P110 million.
According to him, the parking that will be offered under the Baguio tennis court will only be available after the rehabilitation of the tennis court which forms part of the city’s overall plan to improve the current state of the premier park with the assistance of the State-owned Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).
In the case of the put up of the parking structure at the site of the old city auditorium, the city government is considering offering the same through the public-private partnership via solicited proposal so it could be fastracked to solve some of the parking problems of the park.
Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong gave the members of the city’s finance committee and technical personnel to prepare the pertinent documents for the final terms of reference for the immediate offering for solicited proposals by the end of next month.
He admitted that the parking of vehicles in the different parts of the park is in disarray thus the need to put this in order to help bring back the beauty of the tourist destination and address the perennial parking issues in the park.
The city prepared a comprehensive master development plan for the Burnham Park as a basis in the implementation of proposed development projects in the premier tourist destination to help in gradually and safely reviving the city economy that had been heavily devastated by the ongoing Corona Virus Disease (COVID) 2019 pandemic. – Dexter A. See
