CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña admitted on Saturday that he was not sure how to implement his plan to limit the height of buildings in Cebu City.
But, he said he had to start somewhere.
“I don’t know when or how we will come to a conclusion, but we’re going to put these highrise buildings on hold,” Osmeña said.
Last week, the mayor announced that he planned to limit the height of buildings following the fire that destroyed Metro Ayala Department Store.
He was afraid that firefighters and rescuers might not be equipped to respond to fire alarms on high-rise buildings.
On that day also, the Cebu City Office of the Building Official (OBO) put on hold 31 applications of high-rise buildings in the city.
Osmeña criticized comments against his plan to ban high-rise buildings in the city, which was described as anti-development and anti-business.
He also said that it is not only Cebu City who puts a limit to high-rise buildings.
Osmeña said that Beverly Hills in California has a height limit on buildings there.
“I know (because) I was there when they implemented it and everybody was complaining,” Osmeña said.