Oro to provide over 500 housing units to workers

To increase productivity and inspire the employees of Cagayan de Oro City Hall to do their job well, the city government here leads the groundbreaking ceremony of the City Employees Socialized Housing Project that will offer more than 500 housing units at Sitio Patpat, Barangay Lumbia, here, Tuesday.

“This is very ambitious. Imagine, almost 70 hectares and then we plan to acquire more lots,” Mayor Oscar Moreno said.

The housing project is the very first City Hall Project for its personnel which covers an area of 10.6 hectares developed by the City Housing and Urban Development Department (CHUDD) through Pag-IBIG financing.

Emphasizing that the project is one of the fruits of the city government’s labor, Moreno said, “Kailangan ayusin natin ang ating competitiveness. Kailangan ayusin natin the elements of competitiveness: economic dynamism, resiliency, ease of doing business, government efficiency, and infrastructure. Nobody will do that for us.”

One of the beneficiaries, Ana Ocer, City Hall employee for 26 years, said the project is a realization of her dream to own a house.

“Dako kaayo akong pasalamat nga nahimo kani siya nga programa sa City Hall Employee Socialized Housing Project. Ako nangandoy gyud ko nga naa ko’y kaugalingon nga balay kay gapuyo ko diha sa Acacia Street. Subo pamalandungon nga nabanlas among balay sa trahedya nga Sendong,” Ocer shared.

Located in the southern part of Barangay Lumbia, the housing project is a five-minute distance ride from the center of the barangay that will soon be surrounded with amenities and facilities such as sports complex, city hospital, and institutions.

The community is one of the city’s proposed 60-hectare township. It is also aimed to be the gateway to creating a diverse community in Cagayan de Oro. Each housing unit will have a 100 square meter area and owners will only have to pay about P3,000 per month as the land development will no longer be charged to them.

“This is not a guarantee of success. This is just the beginning of another phase and this phase is called implementation. It’s not going to be easy, there will be challenges,” Moreno said. (pia x)