The city government here is eyeing the completion of at least 400 housing units under the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Housing (4PH) program in time for the second State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on July 24.

Construction is underway for the first set of housing units to be part of the Yuhum Residences at the Arao relocation site in Barangay Vista Alegre.

Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said the developer told him that two buildings are expected to be finished before the SONA.

“It’s about 400 units. There are (similar housing programs) being implemented in other provinces, but we are more advance,” he said in an interview Sunday night.

In March this year, the city government entered into a joint venture agreement with the consortium of WRS Holdings Inc. and Scheirman Construction Consolidated Inc., which will invest PHP2 billion for the development of mixed-use human settlement projects in two locations.

On the other site at Bredco, Reclamation Area will rise the Yuhum Executive.

“We are planning to expand the Yuhum housing program to many other sites. This will be scattered all over Bacolod City so that the beneficiaries will not be forced to live in just one area. They will have the option to decide where they want to live,” Benitez said.

Bacolod is considered the first local government unit in the country to implement the 4PH, a flagship shelter program of the Marcos administration which seeks to build a total of 6 million housing units to address the country’s housing backlog in six years or until 2028.

Under the city’s agreement with the consortium, some 3,000 units will rise at the Yuhum Residences while the Yuhum Executive will have 7,000 units.

As a mixed-use human settlement project, each site will also have a commercial complex, open grounds and parks, a public market and terminal, primary care facility and schools, and government offices. (PNA)