New growth areas to be identified in updated CLUP
New growth areas in the city will be identified in the new Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) which currently is being drafted by city officials. The new growth areas include the salt bed and fishpond areas in the district of Mandurriao.
Mayor Jerry Treñas said he was assured by Architect Felino Palafox of his help in coming up with a new CLUP for the city. The city's CLUP was last updated in 2001.
Treñas said there is a need to identify the new growth areas as the city is moving towards development. It will take at least six months for the planner to finish the CLUP.
The drafting of the new CLUP will take place after a series of workshops. The planners will consider the productivity of the land especially those irrigated lands which could not be converted for other purposes as mandated by law. There are no farmlands in the city now. Most of the irrigated land are already outside the city, said Treñas.
He hinted that the new growth areas include the Megaworld property, the eight-kilometer Iloilo Boulevard and the Pison Road in Mandurriao. Part of the Megaworld property was then a salt bed area while the Iloilo Boulevard and Pison Road used to be fishpond area and mangrove areas. The Iloilo Boulevard will start from the Carpenters Bridge in Mandurriao up to Forbes Bridge in Lapaz district.
The draft will feature Iloilo City 20 years from now. The plans should be incorporated with the future plans, entry of new investments for the city and same time construction of the major infrastructure projects here.