Davao’s 'Little Tokyo' master plan readied
October 12, 2016 at 07:39am
Tecson, in an interview with SunStar Davao on Tuesday, October 11, said, Berkman International, Inc., a professional consulting and project management firm won the bidding for the project.
As the winning bidder, the company will craft the master plan of restoring and developing the Little Tokyo in Mintal.
"Finally, for years barangay captain Abay Bargamento and the City Government have been pushing for this project, now we are officially starting it," she said.
Representatives from the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza), Berkman International, Mintal village, and the City Government met last October 10, for the first time to discuss the community-based cultural tourism project.
She added the winning bidder will visit Mintal village to conduct ocular inspections on the second week of November.
Tecson, however said, no timeline was set as to when the master plan should be completed. But she said they hope to finish the plan as soon as possible.
The "Little Tokyo" will feature a Japanese hospital, market, cemetery, and the monument of Ohta Kyozaburo, a businessman who established the first Japanese-owned abaca company in the Philippines.
Tecson said the move of developing and restoring Little Tokyo and making it part of the City's Tourism circuit is seen to increase the influx of tourists here as it features a unique cultural village bringing back the visitors to the time of pre-World War II (1919 to 1945) when Japanese settled in the city.
The Little Tokyo, Tecson said, was where the progress of Davao began.
According to the Department of Tourism-Davao data, Japanese tourists placed second among the top five foreign markets for the first quarter this year at 12,198 Japanese visitors.
Tecson said developing Mintal's potential as a tourism site is an investment worth banking on.
Source: sunstar.com.ph
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