Citicenter (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
CEBU City Hall’s demolition team finished dismantling the roofs of more than 10 houses beside the Citicenter Complex in barangay Kamagayan yesterday afternoon and will demolish 70 more in the next few days.
“We’re clearing the area because we will reblock it and make a new road in the area,” said city market administrator Raquel Arce, who also heads the City’s Prevention Restoration Order Beautification and Enhancement (Probe) team.
Arce said the city government plans to restore a road on the area that connects Jakosalem Street to Junquera Street.
“There is a road but it has been cut since the structures have encroached on it,” she said.
While the road is being restored, Arce said the settlers can return to the area once the reblocking is finished. The lot is owned by the government.
Cleared
There was no resistance during the demolition since the settlers were given time to voluntarily vacate the area.
Arce said they even postponed an earlier scheduled demolition after the barangay officials requested so.
“There was no resistance. It was orderly. The barangay officials assisted us, we didn’t even need police officers in the area,” Arce said.
The area, including the Citicenter complex itself will be used for medium to high rise buildings to be built by the city government for indigent families and City Hall employees.
Collin Rossell, chief of the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP), said they cannot start the housing project if the road isn’t cleared.
“We want it to be reblocked so the qualified settlers can stay there while waiting for the construction of the buildings for housing,” Rossell said.
He said some current settlers in the area won’t be qualified since they returned to the site despite being given cash assistance and relocation sites.
There are also 50 structures to be cleared within the Citicenter Complex itself, Rosell added.
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