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Cherry blossoms and cable cars: Baguio bares summer capital rehab plan

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<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dbH6URee9U4?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>MANILA — Baguio has big plans to boost tourism including planting cherry blossoms and tulips in public parks, building a railway and cable car line, and improving parking spaces and sidewalks, its mayor said Friday. </p><p>Famed for its cool weather, Baguio welcomed some 1.5 million visitors in 2018, according to the city tourism office. </p><p>The city expects to welcome more holidaymakers while Tagaytay City, a neighboring tourist hotspot, reels from an eruption of Taal Volcano, said Mayor Benjamin Magalong. </p><p>But amid the influx of tourists, Baguio has lost 355 hectares of green cover from 2014 to 2017 to give way to new developments.</p><p>The city, Magalong said, can only accommodate 50,000 vehicles, but residents alone had around 64,000 registered vehicles. </p><p>The local government is working on the following projects to address these problems, he said. </p><div><strong>DEVELOPMENT MORATORIUM </strong></div><p>President Rodrigo Duterte approved &quot;in principle&quot; a temporary moratorium on the construction of commercial buildings in the city, said Magalong. </p><p>Local officials are working with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea&#x27;s office to &quot;formalize&quot; the plan that was also &quot;strongly endorsed by the environment, interior and tourism departments, he said. </p><p>The moratorium, he said, will also ban the cutting of trees and mandate a review of all buildings&#x27; sewer system. </p><div><strong>CHERRY BLOSSOMS, TULIPS </strong></div><p>Baguio is working with donors to cultivate cherry blossoms in the city. </p><p>The local government also recently imported 25 tulip bulbs from Holland, which it planned to plant in Burnham and other parks, the mayor said. <br/> <br/>Magalong said he and other officials next week would go to Pasig to study and replicate its collection of environmental and congestion fees from visitors. </p><div><strong>CABLE CARS, MONORAIL </strong></div><p>The Baguio government has secured P145 million and will ask the the same amount from the public works department next week to improve its sidewalks.</p><p>The city government on Thursday also received a consultancy and construction firm&#x27;s feasibility study on using cable cars and building a 2.9-kilometer monorail in Baguio, said its mayor. </p><p>However, Baguio needs to shell out P2.1 billion in 10 years for the project so local official will have to re-negotiate, he said. </p><div><strong>MULTI-LEVEL BURNHAM PARKING </strong></div><p>Local official will hold a &quot;series of consultation&quot; on plans for a multi-level parking building that will &quot;put order&quot; in frequently packed Burnham Park, said Magalong. </p><p>The city government is also finalizing the design and billing for other projects in the 25-hectare park to get P480 million in funds from the tourism department, he said. </p><div><strong>NO LOCKDOWN </strong></div><p>Baguio cannot be shuttered to tourists during the rehabilitation program because it serves as a gateway to neighboring towns and is a center of commerce and education in the region, he said. </p><p>&quot;We would rather discourage people to go to Baguio City or probably advise them to take mass transport na lang, instead of bringing their cars,&quot; he said. </p>

<p>MANILA — Baguio has big plans to boost tourism including planting cherry blossoms and tulips in public parks, building a railway and cable car line, and improving parking spaces and sidewalks, its mayor said Friday. </p>

MANILA — Baguio has big plans to boost tourism including planting cherry blossoms and tulips in public parks, building a railway and cable car line, and improving parking spaces and sidewalks, its mayor said Friday.