Short link: https://wp.me/paaccn-HD0
(SDN) — As City Hall under the leadership of Mayor Vico Sotto prepares for what he dubbed “Redevelopment Project,” some city employees have started streaming down to a Temporary City Hall.
He identified in a previous Flag Raising Ceremony the Bridgetowne Office Buildings, a real estate development that is astride the common border of cities of Pasig and Quezon (Wikipedia), as the site for the Temporary City Hall.
The youthful mayor, who is expected to run for his second re-election in the May 2025 political exercise, announced at the Flag Ceremony on Monday, September 16, the start of operations at the Temporary City Hall to give way to the Redevelopment Project.
He emphasized, as gleaned from details shared by the Public Information Office (PIO) of the city, “that public safety and people’s lives are the top priority/major consideration for pushing for the Redevelopment Project.”
While the situation is challenging, he said “people’s lives are on the line.”
Although he did not specifically mention it at the Flag Raising Ceremony, the Redevelopment Project may refer to his plan of constructing and establishing a multi-building, multi-use, and multi-purpose Pasig City Hall Campus (PCHC) with a proposed budget of Php9.6 billion.
He reiterated the funds for the project comes from local savings, “so no programs.”
Earlier, he said the funding may go lower depending on the results of bidding for the grand project. He announced the PCHC during the 451st Founding Anniversary celebration of Pasig City last July 2 and asked for support from everyone.
Official operations are for select transactions at first, such as the Business One-Stop Shop (BOSS) and Real Property Tax (RPT)-related transactions like assessment and payment, as gleaned from details shared by the PIO.
Meanwhile, the rest of the transactions “will remain at the Pasig City Hall Compound and in the two City Hall Annexes,” it added.
The mayor stressed that the transfer of offices to the Temporary City Hall is being done slowly “to avoid overwhelming the City Hall employees and clients.”
Redevelopment Project complex to last for 100 years
In relation with this, the mayor advised employees to make a habit of regularly checking on the PIO’s official Facebook page to get a more detailed information on the transfer’s schedule and the services to be affected.
On the other hand, he acknowledged the challenges that come with the transfer to the Temporary City Hall to give way for the Redevelopment Project, citing the inconvenience it could bring to both the transacting public and the City Hall employees who handle the transfer and inventory themselves.
He is hopeful, though, that everyone aligns with the situation and “understands the purpose behind the City Government of Pasig’s Redevelopment Project.”
The PIO said the mayor “reminded everyone of the rationale of the Redevelopment Project – the structural issues with the City Hall Building, which can be attested by the Office of the Building Official…the City Hall building failed in mere visual inspections and shared that even non-engineers and non-architects can see these structural issues via visual tests…further explained by pinpointing areas within the City Hall Building that have been tagged as red flags by City engineers.”
Sotto said implementing a big undertaking the likes of the Pasig Redevelopment Project is already “undeniably complex,” but is made more challenging with “the proliferation of fake news and disinformation,” saying “that some would spend huge amounts of money to spread fake news to damage the administration’s image.”
The mayor seems undaunted, though, as the PIO said, “that however challenging it may seem, people’s lives are on the line, so it is something that should be pursued.”
Retroffiting of the City Hall, he said, has ceased to be a viable and sustainable option, “we might as well future proof it so that it can still be used for the long term, rather than short term,” predicting that the Redevelopment Project “is good for 100 years.”
Among the benefits Sotto mentioned with the Redevelopment Project include long term economic value, local economy, and local economic stimulation” as well as potentially increasing the value of the current City Hall area.
The PIO cited the mayor as saying the project will have a more spacious City Hall, increasing from 28,000 sqm. to 40,000 sqm., eliminating dead spaces as much as possible, unlike in the present City Hall.
Needless to say, the Redevelopment Project must be worth waiting for. (/)
_________
The featured image is from Bridgetowne Office Buildings.jpg – Wikimedia Commons
