Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia has announced plans to relocate the City Hall to the South Road Properties (SRP). This plan, initially proposed by his predecessor, aims to transform the downtown area into a heritage district.
Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia has revived the plans of his predecessor, Michael Rama, to relocate the Cebu City Hall to the South Road Properties ( SRP ). This move, initially proposed two years ago by Mayor Rama, aims to transform the downtown area into a heritage district. Mayor Garcia announced his intention to allocate approximately P500 million in the 2026 budget for the transfer, a reduction of P300 million from Rama's proposed budget.
The plan to relocate City Hall was first discussed in 2022. Mayor Garcia, who authored the Cebu City Heritage District Ordinance in 2023, stated that the transfer of City Hall to SRP is crucial to achieving this goal. Once the relocation is complete, the current City Hall building will be repurposed as a museum and a permanent workspace for artists.Joseph Michael Espina, the head of the Cebu City Planning and Development Office (CPDO), revealed that the proposed location for the new City Hall is at the tip of Pond A on SRP. The CPDO is aiming for a 5,000-square-meter lot to accommodate the entire City Hall complex, which occupies approximately 59,000 square meters. Conceptual plans indicate that the executive building will be approximately 15 stories tall, while the legislative building will have around eight floors. The CPDO and the city architect have been collaborating on the conceptualization of the new City Hall, presenting a design for a three-building complex to the City Council in May 2023. The executive building will be centrally located, the legislative building will face the Mactan Channel and the Cebu–Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) Bridge, and the Department of General Services will occupy the building nearest to the waterway. The proposed location at the tip of Pond A was favored by architects due to its size and suitability for the City Hall complex. Espina presented a plan to develop Pond A into a grid-type street system, similar to Manhattan, for improved accessibility and functionality. A rotunda replicating Fuente Osmeña, with a diameter exceeding 140 meters, is also planned. Accessibility concerns have been addressed, as the SRP is slated to be a route for the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit system. Public utility vehicle routes are also under review by the Cebu City Transportation Office
CEBU CITY HALL SRP CITY HALL RELOCATION HERITAGE DISTRICT CEBU CITY PHILIPPINE NEWS
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