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'Dispersal of growth centers a must' |
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Source Ulysses Israel
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Wednesday, 18 April 2007 |
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THE urbanization of Zamboanga City has created monstrous problems that need to be rectified. It has created traffic congestion, hampers development of barangays outside the city proper and the consequent lopsided economic growth placed the rural barangays at a disadvantaged position.
Atty. Mel Sadain said this "unfortunate" trend must be reversed not only to ease traffic congestion but also to correct the socio-economic problems brought about by high urbanization of the city proper.
"We have to encourage local businessmen to put up businesses outside the seven-kilometer radius by gentle persuasion but aggressive management skills like providing them tax moratorium on the first one or two years of operation to make the option of transferring to other areas viable. We have to make this vision palatable and attractive to them, one of the ways to do it is to give them tax holidays," Sadain said.
Sadain, a lawyer and an aspirant for councilor of District 1, said if elected he would sponsor an ordinance in the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) that will provide among others: 1.) A tax holiday for 1-2 years of operation for businesses that would put up investments in identified areas outside the seven-kilometer radius of the city proper; 2.) A relatively lower tax rates will be imposed thereafter.
He will also request government agencies involved in the economic development like the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to conduct studies that will make doing business in the undeveloped but naturally endowed barangays attractive and viable.
His vision is to create new growth areas and new growth centers outside the seven-kilometer radius, which in the process will redound to the good of the whole city.
For one, it will ease traffic jam and overcrowding, he said.
Also, the influx of migration to the city will be dispersed to the newly created growth areas and growth centers. Growth centers can be created from the existing semi-urbanized barangays while new growth areas can be created from underdeveloped far-flung barangays, he explained.
Sadain, who is not only a practicing lawyer but holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the prestigious University of the Philippines (UP-Diliman), said he is saddened by the continued neglect of the far-flung barangays whose residents are deprived of the opportunities to make higher income and are solely relying on meager income from agriculture-based economic activities.
In his campaign sorties, he visited the barangays of Talisayan, La Paz, Tulungatong, and Patalon, where he learned that the residents are asking the city government together with the Zamboanga City Water District (ZCWD) to develop the water resource in the area into a water reservoir that could be tapped by the ZCWD for use of Zamboangueños.
He said the city is experiencing water shortage with the ZCWD implementing water rationing when another water resource is lying idle that could be tapped by the ZCWD.
"My campaign sorties have made me more resolved to push the realization of my legislative agenda that would alleviate poverty in the neglected barangays and pave the way for their development," he said.
"We must bring the resources of the government to these barangays and persuade the business sector that it's high time to exploit the opportunities in these areas," he added.
He said his concrete development programs will bring tremendous benefits to the residents in the new growth centers outside the city proper such as generation of jobs, development of small and micro industries and enhancement of agricultural productivity, he said.
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