GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 1 Aug) – The Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) formally approved on Wednesday the city’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) for the next decade.
City Mayor Ronnel Rivera said Thursday the local government successfully defended the provisions of the CLUP, which will run until 2026, in the final deliberation during the board’s 437th regular meeting here.
He said the approval, which was made through Resolution 987, series of 2019, came after “a long and tedious process of validation” conducted by the HLURB.
The board, which is under the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), issued on Wednesday a certificate of approval to the city government signed by HUDCC chair Eduardo del Rosario and its Chief Executive Officer, Commissioner Lloyd Christopher Lao.
The mayor said the approval of the CLUP is very important for the city as it mainly sets the area’s development direction and priorities for the next decade.
“This is because of our concerted efforts, four years in the making,” he said in a statement.
Under the Local Government Code of 1991 and related laws, all LGUs are mandated to “continue to prepare/revise/update” their comprehensive land use plan, which is enacted through a zoning ordinance.
Rivera said the CLUP is a planning tool that rationalizes the allocation and proper use of the area’s land resources.
It projects public and private land uses in accordance with the future spatial organization of economic and social activities, he said.
Nael Cruspero, head of the City Planning and Development Office, earlier said they identified new growth and investment areas as well priority development projects for the city through the CLUP.
He said the city intends to “densify” its urban center by promoting more developments within the downtown area.
The move aims to discourage further sprawl or more people going away from the city center that could create various problems later on, among them the lack of public transportation systems, he said.
Cruspero said the local government is encouraging the building of more high-rise dwellings and the filling in of vacant lots within the urban center.
The mayor credited the crafting and approval of the CLUP to the efforts of the city council, CPDO and other concerned departments.
The United States Agency for International Development’s Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity or SURGE project provided technical assistance in the formulation and finalization of the said CLUP. (MindaNews)
