Cagayan de Oro to build P8.5B new city hall to help ease urban congestion

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The seat of government of this highly urbanized city is set to be relocated from the downtown to the uptown area to help ease urban congestion.

According to Jann Guillmore Actub, spokesperson of the Office of the City Mayor, the construction of a “world-class government complex” in a 22.9-hectare area in Upper Carmen is meant to “trigger a new wave of economic growth.”

For one, the new city hall will consolidate scattered local government offices into a one-stop hub, Actub said.

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The current City Hall is located in a riverside compound that has been a governance seat since the Spanish colonial era.

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It is located just across the compound where the local leadership of the Catholic Church has been holding fort in the last four centuries.

When done, the new structure is expected to contribute to easing the congestion downtown, given the large volume of people transacting business with its offices in a given day.

“This is a reflection of the good governance of our city,” Actub said.

The relocation, according to Actub, is “actually a bit late,” citing the city’s “rapidly booming economy” that generates increasing vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

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To build the new city hall, the local government is set to borrow P8.5 billion, for which purpose the city council had authorized Mayor Rolando Uy to contract.

The authorization was fiercely debated by councilors when taken up on Oct. 5.

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Eventually, the measure passed with 15 voting in favor, three opposing, and one choosing to abstain.

Councilors Yevonna Yacine Emano, Imee Rose Moreno and Agapito Suan, who voted against the loan, cited the heavy financial burden servicing it will impose on the local government in the future.

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Of the total loan amount to be contracted, P2.5 billion is intended for land acquisition, Actub said. /apl