MANILA, Philippines — The triumvirate of the departments of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources, and the Interior and Local Government would visit Baguio City on Friday to conduct inspection on the country’s "Summer capital."
The interagency task force, which previously led the rehabilitation of Boracay Island and the ongoing Manila Bay rehabilitation, would meet to discuss the prevailing problems of Baguio City, including overtourism.
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They will also tackle sustainable infrastructure rehabilitation projects on the carrying capacity of Baguio, La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba and Tublay as well as other plans to revitalize and decongest it.
“The commitment to our mandate to sell and protect our natural attractions remains our paramount objective. It is a shared responsibility, however, among government and our people to be responsible stewards of our planet,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said in a release.
In view of this meeting, Secretaries Puyat, Roy Cimatu and Eduardo Año are scheduled to visit the City of Pines’ tourist spots such as Burnham Park, Wright Park, Mines View Park as well as the city’s sewage treatment plant and Balili river and the sanitary land fill in Irisan.
For his part, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong reportedly said the local government would present comprehensive infrastructure plans for the city.
The Baguio City Planning and Development Coordinator and the Baguio City Tourism Officer would give situational updates on tourism and land use plan.
A report from The STAR said also among the issues to be discussed are the development of Burnham Park, youth convergence center, pay parking buildings and interventions on improving the quality of waste water, water quality management, solid waste management.
Reports also earlier quoted Magalong as saying that Burnham Park would be closed from March to October 20 this year for rehabilitation.
The DOT pledged funding for the rehabilitation the UNESCO Creative City.
Its infrastructure arm, Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) and the LGU of Baguio already signed a memorandum agreement on the funding that included the P480 million rehabilitation of Burnham Park.
The DOT and TIEZA are also studying the city’s request for budget on the construction of a sewerage system and the rehabilitation of the Mines View Park.