If all goes according to plan, tall buildings will soon redefine Tagbilaran City’s skyline.
According to Tagbilaran Mayor John Geesnell Yap, the currently operating airport in the city will be turned into a business park after airline operations are transferred to Panglao in 2018.
Developers will already be allowed to build tall structures after the Tagbilaran City Airport is shut down.
Height restriction of buildings within the city will be less stringent once air traffic will be diverted to the new airport in Panglao, said Yap.
For now, all buildings across Bohol’s capital only reach up to five stories as the city is the direct airline pathway to the currently operating runway of the Tagbilaran City Airport.
The mayor however did not elaborate on concrete details in connection to the planned establishment of a business district within the city.
Yap also admitted that the said project is expected to worsen traffic congestion in Tagbilaran.
He said that city officials are already drawing up measures to mitigate the projected worsening of traffic conditions.
Earlier, Tagbilaran City Administrator Leonides Borja said that the local government is open for negotiations with private investors who are willing to establish pay-parking facilities.
City officials have been looking for vacant lots across the city which can be turned into parking areas, he added.
Borja cited the City Square which has been leased out by the city government to the owners of Unitop as possible site for the carpark.
The establishment’s third floor has been considered by the city government as a viable pay-parking facility, Borja said.
City officials, in line with the proposal’s implementation, are already looking to negotiate with City Square’s lessee.
Illegal parking along various streets in Tagbilaran including its main thoroughfares has been pinpointed as the cause of heavy traffic in the city.
Late last year, the City Traffic Management Office (CTMO) implemented the towing and clamping ordinance as part of a crackdown against parking violators.
The CTMO however continued to report consistent parking violators due to the lack of equipment to strictly enforce the ordinance throughout Tagbilaran. (A. Doydora)