A private developer is proposing to the city government the put up of a 5-storey pay parking structure to help address the city’s parking problem in the central business district area.
In a presentation made before city executives and legislators, All-Asia Structures, Inc. officials stated that the site of the orchidarium serves as one of the ideal sites for the pay parking structure because it is bounded by roads that will provide exit and entrance.
Under the company’s proposal, the ground floor of the pay parking building will be for flower vendors and the pasalubong center, while the second floor will be the parking area of public utility jeepneys and vehicles, and the office for the city’s traffic and transportation office.
There will be 142 slots for the different jeepney associations in the central business district that will be relocated to the pay parking structure.
On the other hand, the third to fifth floors will accommodate a total of 656 vehicles that will help decongest the central business district and the city can strictly implementation of no parking around the city.
According to the company, the third floor of the parking building will provide 205 vehicular slots, while 224 vehicles could be accommodated in the fourth floor with the fifth floor providing parking for 227 vehicles.
Earlier, the city had been soliciting proposals on the put up of pay parking structures at the Ganza pay parking area, the old city auditorium and the orchidarium.
Initially, several private developers submitted their proposals to the city government and the same is now being reviewed by the city’s Public-Private Partnership–Selection Committee (P4-SC).
However, City Administrator Bonifacio dela Peña directed the proponents to submit their traffic impact assessment to accompany their proposal to guide the committee members in assessing and evaluation the most feasible proposal for a 5-story pay parking structure.
He pointed out that the traffic impact assessment by the proponents will greatly help the committee in intelligently deciding which among the pending proposals is most feasible and advantageous to the city government in terms of helping ease the traffic congestions around the city and ensuring adequate income to the city.
He reported that the P4-SC will be evaluating the proposals based on the merits of the same so that there will be a long-term solution to the city’s parking problems that had been plaguing the city over the past several decades because of the enormous increase in the number of motor vehicles plying the city’s streets daily.
The city administrator expressed optimism that the city will be able to find a private partner to pursue the put up of a pay parking structure that will effectively and efficiently address the city’s parking woes in the coming months.
By Dexter A. See
Photo by Armando M. Bolislis