DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 18 May) – The ordinance seeking to provide a special incentive package to properties that will be developed into parking buildings is awaiting signature by Mayor Sara Duterte, Davao City Investment Promotions Center chief Lemuel Ortonio said
Davao City Hall. June 2017 photo from the City Government of Davao FB page
In an interview, Ortonio said Duterte is expected to sign anytime this month the ordinance approved by the city council in January that aims to address the parking space problem by encouraging owners to develop their properties as parking spaces for public use.
Ortonio said there were already two developers who signified interest last year to construct parking buildings.
He said the owners of idle lands in the downtown area are encouraged to develop their properties into parking buildings due to the growing demand for parking spaces in areas with high volume of vehicles.
“The increasing number of activities and influx of tourists has introduced challenges to the existing traffic stream within the jurisdiction,” the ordinance said.
It added that the city government wants the participation of property owners to address the parking space problem within the commercial areas.
Under section 3, the ordinance will apply only to properties in areas classified as commercial by the zoning ordinance, properties to be developed and/or used exclusively as parking spaces/buildings, and properties with updated payment of real property taxes.
Among the incentives granted by the ordinance to the would-be parking facilities are two-year exemption from real property tax for land, five-year exemption from real property tax for building, and five-year exemption from business tax for parking spaces.
Davao City’s MacArthur Highway in Matina. MindaNews file photo by GG BUENO
The ordinance requires the property to be exclusively used as a parking space for a period of not less than five years.
Should the property owner use the structure for other purposes prior to the five-year lock-in period, the benefit shall be forfeited and the real property tax for both the land and the building shall be assessed starting from the time of the grant of the benefit up to the time that the building has been converted, and the structure must be, at the minimum, a two-story building.
Incentives such as real property tax
and business tax will also be granted for owners of improved or renovated parking lots and buildings in excess of what is provided for under the National Building Code under the following conditions: approved or mandated parking space is retained, new or additional structure is built on the existing parking lot, and improvement will not diminish or decrease the building plans already approved by the Office of the Building Official. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
