Site development plan for Dairy Farm property readied

BAGUIO CITY – (March 30, 2021) – City planners recently presented to the local government’s management committee the proposed site development plan of the over 10-hectare property within the Baguio Dairy Farm that was ceded to the city by the agriculture department purposely to host some of the high impact development projects geared towards decongesting the central business district even if the said projects are considered to be opposing sites in the area.

City Planning and Development Officer Arch. Donnna R. Tabangin informed city officials that incorporated in the overall master development plan of the area that was ceded to the city will be the proposed transport terminal that will cater to south-bound public transportation, the modernized abattoir and the existing temporary waste transfer station.

She claimed that to allow the opposing sites in the area to co-exist, there will be buffer forests that will be established between the transfer station and the abattoir, between the abattoir and the integrated terminal and between the transfer station and the integrated terminal to strike a balance in the area.

Aside from the buffer forests within the aforesaid property, Tabangin said that each of the proposed development projects will be provided with adequate infrastructures that will be distinct to them for their co-existence once the development projects will be implemented through the public private partnership program of the local government.

Earlier, Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong directed the City Planning and Development Office to prepare a comprehensive master development plan of the area within the Baguio Dairy Farm that was ceded to the city by the agriculture department to delineate the areas that will be used for some of the city’s priority development projects such as the proposed put up of an integrated terminal and the relocation of the city’s modern abattoir.

For his part, City Administrator Bonifacio dela Pen֮a pointed out that pointed out that whatever will be the agreement of the city officials on the comprehensive master development plan will be the one that will be offered to the proponents of the two key development projects such as the integrated terminal and the modernized abattoir.

He explained that the prevailing conditions will be incorporated in the terms of reference for the city’s public partnership projects that will be offered to the interested proponents to allow them to be able to adjust their proposals since an integral part of the plan is the existence of the waste transfer stations the same had been approved by the environment to be in the said area and that there is no available area in the city where the same will be relocated.

He disclosed that there is already a proponent for the proposed integrated terminal that submitted its proposal which included the are occupied by the waste transfer station and the proposed site of the modernized abattoir, thus, the need to provide the approved comprehensive master development plan and site development plan of the property so that appropriate adjustments will be done by proponents in their future proposals once the proposed projects will be offered through the public private partnership.

Initially, the agriculture department ceded to the local government some 8.1 hectares that is located within the Baguio Dairy Farm purposely for the city’s proposed development projects during the previous administration of former Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan before the same was expanded to some 10.2 hectares upon the representation of Mayor Magalong.    Dexter A. See