Toledo City Mayor Marjorie Perales revealed this during the Openline News Forum last week. Perales said that under her term, she is focused on infrastructure projects while also envisioning transforming the city into a sports tourism center in the country.
New terminal
Perales said the old bus terminal, located near the office of the Philippine Coast Guard will be converted to become a new and modern public market. The construction is now ongoing.
She added that the lot where the new modern bus terminal will be constructed is in the process of expropriation pending before the court.
New Campus
Across the upcoming new terminal is the lot where the Toledo Campus of Cebu Technological University (CTU) will be built.
The mayor added that she recommended to the visiting professors and representatives from the CTU Tuburan campus to offer more agricultural courses, and not offer courses that are already offered by the private educational institutions in the city.
Sports tourism
Perales added that she is promoting the city to become a tourist spot for sports.
It will start with the expansion of the Toledo City Sport Center (Megadome) by constructing a new city grandstand fitted with the track and field oval, an Olympic-size swimming pool and a tennis court.
The grandstand will cost around P400 million. The office of Sen. Mark Villar has allocated P125 million for the initial construction.
Perales said she will meet with the big-ticket project team to check on the status of the project, adding that they want to expedite its completion in time for any sporting event that could be held in the city.
The official said that the city is targeting to host in the future national sports competitions, such as collegiate basketball and Philippine Basketball Association games.
She added that the city has a Fiba-accredited sports center that can accommodate 5,000 seating capacity.
“Toledo is the only city on the west side of Cebu and the progress of Cebu was only focused on the east. Hopefully, the Toledo City [Government] can provide more sport tourism activities,” Perales said.
Economic zones
The official said that she is hopeful that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority will approve the expansion of export processing zones in Toledo City and Balamban town. There are two current export processing zones in Cebu, and they are located on Mactan Island.
She added that the city has prepared a 36-hectare area in Barangay Dumlog for this purpose.
Perales said that the new special economic zone will generate more jobs for the Cebuanos on the west coast.