THE Dagupan City government will have its plate full beginning this year implementing various infrastructure projects.

On top of the list is the construction of a new city hall, and it will not be at the old MC Adore Hotel acquired by the city from the Privatization Monitoring Office (PMO).

Instead, the new city hall will be built on a public land along A.B. Fernandez West, near the soon-to-be opened Dawel-Pantal-Lucao road, in the vicinity of the Presidential Management Staff, National Bureau of Investigation and the Land Transportation Office offices.

City Administrator Alvin Fernandez said the new city hall is a priority project that will be pursued by his father, Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr., junking an earlier plan of the previous administration to convert MC Adore into the new city hall.

The Dagupan City Police Station will also be relocated to the same area, specifically in the lots vacated by the then Pangasinan Memorial Building and the Philippine National Red Cross.

Fernandez said the city government will seek financial help from House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. to augment the city’s budget.

In junking the previous plan of the administration of Mayor Lim to relocate the city hall to MC Adore, Mayor Fernandez intends to transfer all national government agencies presently holding offices at the People’s Astrodome.

The decrepit hotel building will be renovated for the purpose.

Among the agencies to be housed will include the Department of Foreign Affairs which reportedly will extend passport services.

The former Modesta Theatre at the MC Adore will be also repaired and refurbished as the regular venue of Dagupan’s performing arts, i.e., plays, chorale performances and others.

Fernandez said they will also convert the ground floor of MC Adore into modern tiangge (bazaar) stalls, similar to those found in Greenhills, San Juan.

He, however, did not disclose what the city administration plans to do with the present city hall.

The city government, meanwhile, has yet to draw up plans for the former Magsaysay Park, a public land where MetroState Realty Corporation started to build a two-storey structure but which construction was stopped by the city for failing to secure a building permit.

Dagupan City, considered a major business center of the province, is currently among the few local government units in Pangasinan without a new city hall.

The existing city hall is a pre-war vintage building that underwent several renovations over the decades.

Upon completion of he transfer of the government agencies at the People’s Astrodome, the vacated space will also be renovated as future site of an expanded modern library to complement the mayor’s vision to make Dagupan as educational center of the north.

The Fernandez administration is also set to recover all the sidewalks in the poblacion for conversion into an open arcade as part of the planned Night Market.

The conversion of the idle Olympic-size Swimming Pool Compound into an extensive sports complex is also in the works, making it a suitable venue not only for swimming competitions but also for baseball, soccer, boxing, beach volleyball, tennis, table tennis, taekwondo, aerobics, and dance sports.—LM

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