The new City Administrator of Bacolod, John Orola Jr., said Monday that he will hold a consultation tomorrow with the heads of barangays in the southern part of Bacolod City to discuss the development of their areas.
Orola said he is the convenor of the “Look south policy” project involving barangays Singcang up to Sum-ag that seem to be left out in terms of business activities, and he has discussed this matter with Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
Orola said there is a need to bring life and dynamism to the area so the consultation tomorrow will include the barangay captains of Singcang, Cabug, Tangub, Sum-ag, Punta-Taytay,Pahanocoy including Alijis, Mansilingan, Handumanan and Felisa.
The “Look south” policy is similar to what Malaysia did several years ago when it came up with a project “Look east” policy to develop the country into a trade and tourism hub in Asia, Orola said.
He said they will later make a recommendation to the mayor.
“This is non-political. This is purely economic,” he added.
Leonardia said he is very open to the idea of developing the southern part of Bacolod since they had been considering the matter long before.
“It is, for us, a kind of balancing act because, by some circumstances, the development of the north moved faster than the south in the commercial sense, because there are malls there” he said.
Although it can be debatable, the Lacson tourism strip is regarded as part of the north, he added.
Leonardia said the south has vast potentials and a bigger population, but many of its areas are still under-developed.
However, he also said, he believes the chances of planning and development of the south will be at par with the standards of the global community now.*CGS back
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