Mandaue City ready to provide housing for Tipolo fire victims

THE Mandaue City Government will soon build the mid-rise socialized housing project in Sitio Maharlika, Barangay Tipolo, Mandaue City, that will benefit 530 families.

The City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) and the Housing and Urban Development Office (Hudo) presented their proposal on the mid-rise socialized housing project to Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes on January 21, 2021.

In an interview, Eddu Ibañez, executive secretary of Cortes, said this housing project will be for those fire victims in Tipolo in 2019 who are temporarily sheltered at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).

There are 516 families living at the CICC grounds after having been displaced from their homes due to the fire that broke out in Barangay Tipolo, Mandaue City in 2019.

Ibañez said Cortes envisioned to give a decent, secure and resilient socialized community for the fire victims.

“This will be a showcase that if we can do this for Sitio Maharlika, then we could possibly do it for other parts of the city,” said Ibañez.

In selecting the beneficiaries, the Hudo’s Beneficiary Selection Committee (Benselcom) will validate if the fire victims are qualified to be beneficiaries of the socialized housing.

The housing project will have four five-story mid-rise buildings that will cover a lot area of 8,230 square meters. The lot is owned by the city government.

Ibañez said the proposed housing for the fire victims will be a condominium-type building which will also have provisions for parking, open areas, community facilities and big access roads.

As for the funding, Ibañez said the city still has to sort out where to get the funding for the project, but it is possible that the project will be city-funded.

He said they will construct the socialized housing in phases.

Ibañez said they target to start Phase 1 of building A of the project this year. (KFD)