Monday, September 14, 2009 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES [ BusinessWorld Online ]
QUEZON CITY has a new law requiring private and government-owned buildings to reserve part of their rooftops for "greening."
Save the Earth and pay fewer taxes.
New commercial/residential buildings, under the Green Roof Ordinance (Ordinance 1940) signed into law by Mayor Feliciano R. Belmonte, Jr. last September 10, should devote at least 30% of their roof area for plants and trees.
The ordinance has provided an incentive: "No real property tax shall be assessed against the value of the floor area dedicated to the plants and trees. This exemption shall be available for ten years starting from the initial assessment."
The city government will certify compliance with the ordinance, a new requirement that will be added to existing building and occupancy permits.
The tax perk will be extended starting from the completion of the green improvement.
Building owners, under the law, should ensure maintenance to avail of the discount. They are required to submit four photos of the green roof, shot at different angles, during the payment of the annual real property tax.
"In all the angles, the latest broadsheet newspaper (the date must be seen) must be placed in the plants to indicate that the said picture/photograph is the latest," the ordinance states.
It also provides that the "green roof" must have about a foot of soil suitable for planting and maintaining a variety of vegetation, or a layer suitable for maintaining a limited selection of plants and grass. The law sets a six-feet height limit for plants and trees.
Although the law does not cover existing buildings or those under construction at the time the ordinance was approved, it allows owners of such structures to avail of the tax perk by undertaking similar improvements, with the discount also based on the assessed value of the green roof.
Ordinance coauthors Councilor Franz S. Pumaren, Antonio E. Inton, Jr. and Jesus Manuel C. Suntay told BusinessWorld yesterday that single-detached housing units were exempted. The law also excludes row houses and socialized housing projects that have devoted at least 30% of their compound to gardens or plants, and religious establishments.
In a separate telephone interview during the weekend, Mr. Belmonte said a committee composed of representatives from the City Assessor’s Department, Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department, City Planning and Development Office, Department of Engineering, and the City Treasurer’s Office had been tasked to craft the ordinance’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR).
"There is no deadline for the completion of the IRR," he added.
The law set a penalty of P5,000, imprisonment of 15 days or both at the court’s discretion. This is in addition to the revocation of building and occupancy permits.
Major property developers were not immediately available for comment.
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