Tuesday, August 05, 2008 [ manilatimes.net ]
QUEZON City was recently hailed as the most competitive city in Metro Manila, selected as one of the top 10 Asian Cities of the future and ranked no. 7 among more than 200 Asian cities.
Mayor Feliciano Belmonte of Quezon City said that in 2001, he promised that Quezon City will be a model for others, in terms of governance and leadership.
“Today, the promise is being fulfilled… we are now regarded as a teacher of best practices,” Belmonte said in his Seventh State of the City Address before the members of the City Council.
Belmonte said that the United Nations and the World Bank have highlighted the success of Quezon City.
“The World Bank said that Quezon City has been transformed from a bankrupt and disintegrating urban center into one of the cleanest and richest cities in Asia,” Belmonte said.
He also said that the city got good grades in the two most important factors for well-run cities: a growing economy and good governance.
Based on the number of work permits issued, jobs have grown by 18,000 for this year and at present, there are 53,202 registered businesses in the city from 31,025 in 2001.
From a pioneering cyberpark in Eastwood City in 2001, Quezon City now has 28 information and communications technology parks registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority. The biggest is the 38-hectare UP Science and Technology Park along Commonwealth Avenue, which began operations this year.
The city government has also invested close to P13 billion for infrastructure from 2001 to 2008, of which 53 percent financed the improvement and extension of the city’s road network.
In education, there are currently 410,000 children enrolled in city’s public elementary school and all are enjoying the privilege of having one textbook per basic subject, Belmonte said.
From 2001 to 2007, the city added 87 more public elementary and high school buildings, providing 1,471 new classrooms at a cost of P2.82 billion. -- Ira Karen Apanay
__________________________________________________________________
