Mandaue relocation site running out of space
ONLY half of the 1,200 families displaced in the clearing of Mandaue City’s waterways will be accommodated in the relocation site in barangay Paknaan.
According to Cynthis Suico, community affairs officer of the city’s Housing and Urban Development Office (HUDO), only 1.5 hectares of the 6.5-hectare relocation site is livable.
Suico told the reporters yesterday that low lying areas in the relocation site which are prone to flooding need to be developed.
At present, the site can only accommodate 527 home lots. Each family will be allocated 28 square meters. A total of 64 families are already living in the area.
Suico said beneficiaries of the city government’s relocation program will be made to plunk in “sweat equity” for the site’s development.
“The development project of the relocation site is a joint effort of the local government and the urban poor,” she said adding that the local government will be providing the building materials while the beneficiaries will provide the labor.
Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes will be handing over 41 houses to beneficiaries on Dec. 8 to highlight the city’s celebration of Urban Poor Solidarity Week.
Suico said they are optimistic that the City Engineer’s Office will be able to make the road leading to the relocation site passable by that time.
Nonoy Chavez, president of Sitio Mahayag Alliance of Structure Household, said they understand that the city government needs time to develop the site.
“Long term mani ang kada development so dili jud ta angayan ma worried ani (This is a lont term development so we need not worry on this),” he said while pointing out that all of the beneficiaries including women will be helping in the development of the area given by the local government.
Consuelo Mataberde, a resident of sitio Nawanao Riverside B, barangay Subangdaku, who is one of those to be relocated to the site, said living along the Mahiga Creek is more dangerous. She said when it rains, Mahiga Creek overflows and their place gets submerged in waist-deep water.
