QC mayor asks owners of idle lands to turn them into parking lots

Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista has encouraged owners of idle land to convert them into pay parking areas or to either sell or rent them out to the city government.

In a statement, the mayor said he has directed the local barangay (village) operations center to coordinate with the heads of the city’s 142 villages to identify vacant lots in their respective areas and talk to their owners.

He added that the owners could sell or rent out the space to the city government for conversion into a parking area.

Private individuals or establishments should be encouraged to help the city address the problem of vehicle owners who could be renting or residing in houses or apartments with no parking space, Bautista said.

He pointed out that fees from parking spaces which were previously idle lots would help generate additional income for the city government.

Meanwhile, Bautista also ordered the conduct of a study on a land banking system that could be established in the city so that the local government could benefit from idle, abandoned or undeveloped lots.

He pointed out that “money collected from land banking could address the city’s worthy projects such as socialized housing for informal settlers and development of infrastructure such as parks and recreational venues in the barangays.”

Land banking is simply managing an inventory of surplus land or clustering lots for future sale or development.

The system, he said, would also spare the city from the expenses to be incurred from buying private property for low-income housing projects, new schools and other projects.