Construction will continue — Cortes

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes said the National Housing Authority has approved their request to continue the construction of a six-story project worth P100 million in sitio Riverside, barangay Looc.

The mayor’s office earlier submitted a feasibility study for a low-cost housing project to the agency.

In a letter dated Aug. 22, NHA-7 project manager Gavino Figuracion said the proposal, feasibility study and amortization schedule was approved by NHA general manager Chito M. Cruz.

The building was 35 percent complete when construction was halted in 2007 during the term of Mayor Thadeo Ouano because of the lack of a feasibility study and other documents.

Only the pile drive, posts and floors of the first three stories were finished by the contractor Ferac Builder.

“The structure of the building is still okay. It will be a waste if we don’t continue it,” Cortes said in Cebuano.

The project, designed to house 205 families, is financed by a P100-million loan from NHA’s Poverty Alleviation Fund.

Cortes said they will review the NHA agreement to assess who are qualified as beneficiaries and whether government employees can join.

Mandaue City already spent P15 million for the P100-million project.

Half of the 8,000-square-meter site was used for two medium-size housing buildings.

The other half was used for road right of way going to the Petron compound.

In 2010, the Commission on Audit (COA) said the project should be finished before the structure deteriorates and result in a waste of public funds.

Lawyer Francisco Amit, Mandaue consultant of the urban poor, said the city government should pursue the project to be able to pay for the loan and the interest.

Meanwhile, Mayor Cortes said that the city’s flooding problems would be solved if 1,200 households living along the waterway easement zones of the Butuanon River and Mahiga Creek are relocated.

Cortes said the city is still trying to relocate 1,200 affected families to a 6.5-hectare relocation site in barangay Paknaan.

Based on the Housing Urban Development Office records, Mandaue has about 6,200 informal settlers, including those living along waterways, shorelines, under the bridges and on national highways.

Of these 1,200 are living along the easement zones and will given top priority for relocation.

Two hundred houses now occupy a 9.2-hectare relocation site in Lower Tipolo with 50 more under construction under the Community Mortgage Program (CMP).

The construction of Lower Tipolo Housing Association Inc. started in 2007.

In a press conference yesterday, a video was shown of the 9.2-hectare swampy area that was turned into a village of brick row houses.

But the area can’t accommodate all squatters, said Amit. They have to be spread in other barangays such as Pagsabungan, Tingub, Tabok, and Paknaan.

The lots cost below P2,500 per square meter to qualify as socialized housing in CMP.

Mayor Cortes recently presented Mandaue City’s achievements in socialized housing program to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in the Ateneo de Manila.

The mayor was commended by the United Nations International Children Education Funds, Institute of Philippine Culture and Sociology and Anthropology (SO-AN) department of Ateneo.

The SO-AN department asked for a copy of the video to present to an upcoming meeting in Ireland for Homeless International, a nongovernment organization based in the United Kingdom.