THE Department of Tourism (DOT) has been given formal authority to build its planned Tourist Rest Area (TRA) at the foreshore area of Dagupan City.

The Sangguniang Panlungsod passed Resolution No. R. 158 last week, authorizing the DOT to build the facility on a site to be determined by the city government, subject to the conformity of the  Department of Environment and Natural Resources through its Community Environment and Natural Resources Office at Tondaligan Park in Dagupan.

Authored by Councilor Jeslito Seen, the city council’s chairman on tourism and culture, the resolution states that the facility seeks to provide comfort and convenience to tourists.

The DOT, with funding from its unit Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), has been building TRAs across the country, which are intended as free one-stop facilities for tourists with amenities such as clean restrooms with showers, mobile phone charging stations, comfortable lounges, an information center, and a shop for local products.

Councilor Karlos Reyna, chair of the committee on public works and infrastructure, said Dagupan and Lingayen were the chosen sites in Pangasinan.

Meanwhile, Mayor Belen Fernandez announced that the construction of a skateboarding park at the Tondaligan Park has started, a facility that was requested by the city’s young skateboard enthusiasts.

Fernandez said that Tondaligan Park is now also being transformed into another surfing paradise of the north. (Leonardo Micua)