ILOILO City – A P217-million low-rise housing project for city hall employees will soon rise on a city government-owned 16.2-hectare Uswag Subdivision in Barangay San Isidro, Jaro district.
“After these units are already there, 120 families will be given houses that they will be able to have as their own,” said Mayor Jerry Treñas during Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony.
The partnership project of the city government and SM Development Corp. (SMDC) will have an area of 2,741 square meters.
Uswag Subdivision, originally established for informal settlers, currently hosts over 3,000 households.
Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Settlement said the city’s vertical housing project should be the way for all urban cities in the country because of the limitation of available lots for residential housing.
“We are very glad with Iloilo City for leading the way and moving forward because this is the future and we cannot do otherwise,” Del Rosario said.
He expressed the commitment of their department to support projects using escrow, especially for socialized housing.
The department will be financing the establishment of another low-rise residential building that will be launched in the next few days.
The groundbreaking was also graced by Cong. Julienne Baronda and SMDC president Jose Mari Banzon.
Meantime, the city government will be coming up with an executive order that will institutionalize the selection criteria for qualified employees.
The units will be open to employees who are head of the family and has no real property in any part of the country, have not availed of any socialized housing program of the government, and a bonafide resident of the city for five years.
Further, he/she must not be a professional squatter or a member of a professional squatting syndicate. (PNA)
