Cotabato City Government lays down plans for 2016

COTABATO CITY -– Cotabato City is geared
to a more productive and investment filled 2016, officials said today.
”The year 2016 will be a full packed year for the City
Government of Cotabato,” Aniceto Rasalan, secretary to Mayor Japal Guiani Jr,
said in a statement.
With its several achievements in 2015, the city
government has planned to sustain the level of development that this city has
attained. ”This year, the main focus will still be on the
economic progress, peace and order, and social protection,” Rasalan said.
While 2015 was a good year for Cotabato City since it
was founded 57 years ago, Rasalan said there are still areas that need further
improvement.
This year, the city government will be strengthening
its ties with the law enforcers, line agencies, the private sector, and its
other partners in order for these problems be given proper solutions.
Rasalan said the areas that need immediate solutions
are the traffic congestion in the main thoroughfares of the city, the
increasing number of public utility vehicles that are illegally operating in
the city, the ambulant vendors, and other illegal structures like terminals.
We need to really look
into these areas as these are the ones that are constantly affecting our day to
day activities,” he said.
Rasalan said the city
government would like to start 2016 right and by starting it right we mean
that we really need to implement what is stated by the law, Rasalan said
One of the major projects of the city government in
2016 is the massive construction of additional school buildings and classrooms
to help resolve the problem of insufficient classrooms for students now that
the Department of Education is implementing the K to 12 program.
Moreover, foreign investors are also expected to come
to Cotabato City during the first quarter of this year to personally explore
the city’s vast investment opportunities. Rasalan said the Halal Slaughterhouse will also be
opened early this year.
The City Government is intensifying all its efforts in
sustaining the developments that we have achieved in the past years so that we
can invite more investors to come in and subsequently reduce the city’s
unemployment rate,” Rasalan added.
The 2015 has been a very fruitful year for Cotabato
City as it has been acknowledged by several award giving bodies. It has been recognized as one of the Top 3 Most
Business Friendly Cities in the First Class City Category, Top 3 Most Child
Friendly Cities in the Independent Component City Category, 4th
place in the Search for the Most Competitive Cities in the Component City
Category.
It has also been given the Certificate of Recognition
by the Department of Interior and Local Government for its efforts in Good
Financial Housekeeping.Presently, Cotabato
City has a total of 2,714 new investments including nine new investments with a
capital amounting to 100 million pesos to Php1.25 billion.
It has welcomed two big malls, the Fiesta Mall and the
Al Nor Mall, which opened in the last quarter of the year. Centro Department Store and PureGold, two famous
deparment and grocery stores, have also started business last month. Superama, one of the biggest chain stores in the city,
has also opened its Hypermarket. Moreover, the Double Dragon Corporation’s City Mall’s
construction is now on going.
The
Koronadal City-based KCC Mall will commenced the construction of its mall along
Quezon Avenue, Cotabato City this month.