National District city planner Cristóbal Valdez urges that the high rise development move outside the city center Polígono Central area, as reported in an interview in Hoy. Valdez made his statements siding with the city residents who oppose the construction of a 189-apartment building on a single home lot at the corners of Federico Geraldino and David Ben Gurion streets, in the Polígono Central.
Architect Valdez, who directed the drafting of the Resolution 94-98 issued by the National District City Council (ADN) that sets the rules for the city center, says that the Poligono Central area does not have sufficient water and sanitary sewage installations to carry the developments that the city government has been authorizing.
Architect Valdez specifies that it took six months to socialize and pass Resolution 94-98. He said the ruling takes into account all the elements that protect the quality of life of the population, such as infrastructure, drinking water supply, sanitary drainage and public spaces.
Valdez says the push should be to build now on the periphery of the city to decentralize the congestion in the inner city residential and business district.
The neighbors of Yolanda Morales and Piantini oppose the Parkside project, the tower of 25 levels and 189 apartments going up in the Poligono Central. Neighborhood groups say the legal height for constructions in the area is 14 floors. They argue the project will aggravate traffic in the already very congested area, and impact an already overloaded sanitary and potable water infrastructure in the area.
The ADN says the project was studied and reviewed and complies with the regulations that respond to the investment dynamics and vision of the city that was agreed upon in the Land Use Plan (POT) 2030. The ADN points to a clause that is an exception that allows builders to add more floors.
The Poligono Central is composed of the sectors of Piantini, Naco, Serrallés and Paraíso with a population estimated at more than 1,043,186 by the year 2020.
Valdez says that already several new high rises in the Polígono Central have had to install wells for water supply or storages that they need to fill through tanker trucks. He said the wastewater is contaminated because all goes to the ground. He argues that as the area becomes denser, services such as drinking water and drainage become more critical.
He explained that those who invest in the Polígono Central seeking to derive rental income build one or two bedroom apartments, not three-bedroom apartments. The apartment-hotels are intended for seasonal rentals, which increases the population and brings a higher density of vehicles, generating more traffic congestion.
Valdez considers that both the Mayor’s Office of the National District and the central government itself should focus development on the whole territory, not only the central part, which can no longer support the commercial and vehicular traffic explosion.
He suggests planning the city towards sectors such as Villa Juana, Villa Francisca, Villa Consuelo, San Carlos, Mejoramiento Social and others to motivate investors to develop projects in those places.
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Hoy
27 September 2022