By Mortz C. Ortigoza
DAGUPAN CITY – A councilor disagreed to the declaration of an executive
of the local government here that only four-storey building is allowed in the
new growth center.
Councilor Netu Tamayo said that the four-storey edifices are only
allowed in the western side of the Lucao-Pantal Road.
 |
| A photo grabbed of a modern city. Photo Credit: 2Modern |
“It’s only
in the western side for the four-storey. Aside from it and far from the western
side skyscrapers are allowed,” Tamayo, one
of the few outspoken lawmakers at the Sangguniang Panglungsod, cited.
Earlier, Director Nicanor Melecio of
the Public
Alert and Response and Monitoring Center disputed the photo of PNAN News, one
of the biggest online sites in Pangasinan, about the photo- grab that
complement the news article’s “Dagupan Mayor Crows World-Class Features of
New City”.
“Fantasy.This illustration, most probably cut out from some magazine,
which contains skyscrapers, is an overstatement of what the Dagupan geophysical
terrain can sustain. JICA experts who conducted their investigation immediately
after the 1990 Killer Earth Quake recommended that building should be four
storeys high only. Anyhing beyond that should be reinforced with deep piles,”
he opined.
But a long experienced civil engineer contradicted Melecio’s thesis.
He said the contention of Melecio and those of Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA) that buildings in the Pantal-Lucao Road should be
4-storey high are farfetched. The engineer, who asked anonymity, cited investors
like Megaworld, Ayala, and others could construct even up to 50 - storey as
long as they tested the soil and how the base would handle the weight of the
building. He based the existence of those 10 -storey or more scrappers at the reclamation sites
at the sea in Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City near SM Mall of Asia, Dubai where
tall edifices were built on the reclamation on the sea and those artificial
islands in Hong Kong and Singapore.
When asked if the four-storey premise of Melecio has been backed up by
an ordinance, Tamayo instead answered that the logic on the four-storey
structure is for those buildings not to hamper the view of the river to those
people in the buildings behind them.
The Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance of Dagupan City (2015-2025)
did not say that all edifices in the growth center are limited to four-storey.
Section 19 of the law says “There is no prescribed building height
limits in these zones. The height limits of buildings which may be built in
hazardous locations shall be regulated by national laws, regulations and other
provisions in this Ordinance in order to reduce risk or potential hazard.
Exceptions on the no prescription of edifices are the following
Residential Zones:
“1.Structures
within R-1 zones shall not exceed three (3) storeys or a height of ten (10)
meters from the highest natural grade line in the property or front sidewalk
(main entry) level to the topmost of the structure whichever is lower; 2. Structures
within R-2 zones shall not exceed five (5) storeys or a height of fifteen (15)
meters from the highest natural grade line in the property or front sidewalk
(main entry) level to the topmost of the structure whichever is lower”.
The fear of the limitation of the height of the building is based on
investor’s return of investment as seen by an opinion writer who asked not to
be named:
“The fear of limiting the construction of the buildings to four
storeys would discourage investors in coming here as they could not recoup the
price of a hectare of land that cost say half-a-billion pesos where they could
not maximize their investment in building up to 30 storeys. Besides, how could
the city limit the height of the building when the Region-1 Medical Center is
going to build an eleven storeys' structures?” he posed.
No comments:
Post a Comment