Bayani’s workers’ inn project gets MMC nod

The construction of public inns for urban workers and dwellers, the latest brainchild of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando, has received the nod of local chief executives.

The P325-million project involves the construction of bed and bath facilities and affordable stalls for ambulant vendors to sell their wares.

Fernando said the Metro Mayor’s Council (MMC), the MMDA’s governing body composed of the 17 mayors of the metropolis, recently voted in favor of the project and the funding of the same.

The lodging facility, which will cost a person only P25 for an overnight stay, seeks to primarily provide urban workers and urban dwellers a place to rest or take a shower.

Fernando wants the inns to have commercial stalls for sidewalk vendors on the first floor and the bed and bath facilities on the upper floors.

The project, which can be implemented in partnership with local government units, barangays and other private groups, aims to put up four storey-building in strategic locations.

Fernando said income generated by the inns will be used to maintain the facility so that it can continue to operate with minimal help from the MMDA or the national government.

Fernando said the project will be presented to President Arroyo for her approval and funding.

The MMDA is now looking for suitable areas recommended by local chief executives where the buildings can be constructed.

As soon as the national government recovers what it has spent for the construction of the inns, control and supervision of the facilities will be turned over to the mayors.