MAYOR Belen Fernandez has vowed to push for the full development of new growth centers and corridors within her term to make Dagupan competitive with other fast-growing cities and municipalities in Pangasinan and Region 1.

Noting that Dagupan’s central business district is now congested, apart from being vulnerable to flooding, Fernandez announced that she is presently consulting with the local chapters of the United Architects of the Philippines, the Association of Civil Engineers chapters as well as the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce to help identify and affirm where the new growth centers and corridors can be located.

Initially eyed by Fernandez, along with City Planning and Development Coordinator Romeo Rosario, as a possible new growth center is the Jose R. De Venecia Highway presently occupied unproductive fishpond lands.

Challenging Dagupenos to support her vision for a ‘Balon Dagupan’ (New Dagupan), Fernandez said Dagupenos must take advantage of the growth corridor provided by the new De Venecia diversion road, connecting Lucao and Tapuac and Poblacion Oeste to Pantal and Bonuan.

This area, which will be offered to investors both local and foreign, will be linked with the existing growth centers in Pantal and Bonuan to the north, Lucao and Tapuac to the east and Poblacion Oeste, thus enlarging the commercial centers in Dagupan.

The mayor also revealed her plan to construct a government center that will house the various departments of the city government and national government agencies (NGAs) based in Dagupan.

“More than just a new city hall, let us build a new government center along the growth corridor that will house not only NGAs but business, industry and trade associations as one stop shop for local as well as export and import transactions,” Fernandez told newsmen.

She said development plans must be geared towards regaining Dagupan’s lost title as Regional Center of the North that has since been acquired by San Fernando City in La Union.

BALON DAGUPAN

To fast track the development, the mayor suggested the rezoning of selected areas for development and providing incentives for new investments to come in.

At the same time, she urged the completion of the Fish Processing Complex in Bonuan Binloc by building a fish port adjacent to it that can accommodate not only large bancas but also ocean-going vessels.

The construction of a fish port was already part of an approved law authored in the House of Representatives by Fourth District Rep. Gina de Venecia.

Meanwhile, Fernandez lauded the fish processing complex run jointly by the city government and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic resources (BFAR) for having been finally granted Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) that recognized its capability to pass the hygiene and sanitation standards of the United States and Europe.

“Let the Fish Processing Plant Complex be our front line defense when the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement which would allow unbridled import from our ASEAN neighbors begin as early as 2016,” Fernandez said.

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