Land use plan readied for Quezon City's development

MANILA, Philippines - A land use plan for Quezon City is expected by the end of the year following a directive from Mayor Herbert Bautista in order to strictly implement the city’s zoning ordinance.

Bautista has ordered City Planning and Development Office head Tomasito Cruz to fasttrack the draft of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan, a long-term guide to the city’s physical development. The said office was asked to submit the draft before the end of the month for the approval of the mayor and endorsement to the 26-member city council.

“I want CLUP to be approved by December this year to finally set the direction of the city in terms of physical development,” the mayor said during a recent executive staff meeting.

The mayor said that the passage of the plan will do away with cases of exemption from zoning ordinance granted by the city council to some individuals, groups or companies. “I want our city’s zoning ordinance to be fully activated and institutionalized as part of our administration’s reform agenda,” he said.

Bautista said this is to put in place the physical landscape and development of the city within the next three years.

The city government said the plan is one of the components of the city’s comprehensive development plan, which is expected to raise further the city’s potential as dominant economic force in the country. 

The other component is the development of investment program, which is a short to medium term guide for the city to promote the general welfare of its residents.

To date, Quezon City is one of the few local government units that has adopted a comprehensive plan using the “Rationalized Local Planning System,” which the Department of the Interior and Local Government is advocating.