High-rise condominiums will soon change the skyline of Tondo and Binondo districts as Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko” Domagoso plans to build several buildings in that area to house informal settlers in the capital city.
In a television interview, Domagoso said he plans to build several 14-story condominium-like public housing for the city’s homeless.
He said the “Tondominiums” will have elevators and would be very affordable.
Tondo is the largest and most densely populated district of Manila’s 16 districts with an estimated 631,313 residents in 2015 and consists of two congressional districts.
To realize the project, the Manila chief executive said the city government will borrow about P5 billion from the Development Bank of the Philippines and loan another P2 billion from LandBank.
He said the in-city housing project is part of his “vertical and social amelioration program.”
“The 42-square meter rooms will have two rooms, a bathroom and a living room, very similar to the condominiums being built in Metro Manila,” Domagoso said.
“Because Manila has very limited space, we will show the people how to build in-city vertical housing program. In highly-urbanized cities, space is rare. That’s why we’re going to utilize whatever space that we have,” he added.
The city government has already acquired a 3,000-meter lot in Binondo and another 2,000 square-meter lot in Tondo where the buildings will be built.
The condominiums are expected to provide around 1,000 new homes for the capital’s ever-expanding population.
Domagoso said living in high-rise buildings is becoming “increasingly accepted” and is already prevalent in Metro Manila.