Back in 2014, Manila mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada already proposed plans to transform the 5.5 hectare Manila Zoo into a “world class” facility.
Along with the director of the Manila Parks and Recreation Bureau, James Albert Dichaves, they proposed a zoo with a night safari for more children to see animals in a new light, and shopping sprees and foods to be placed along Adriatico and Quirino.
But five years later, Estrada ordered for the closure of the zoo since late January to assess and study the place after Department of Environment and Natural Resources secretary Roy Cimatu called out the zoo’s lack of Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) that causes it to become a major pollutant of Manila Bay.
Now, the re-electionist, and his team Legacy, eyes the development of the Manila Zoo once again, but this time, to turn it into a “grand botanical garden and a world’s first class animal park,” according to a report by Ria Fernandez for the Manila Bulletin.
Under the proposed “Sulong Maynila” city plan, four hectares of the zoo will house plants and flowers, while the remaining one hectare will see the rise of the first vertical zoo in the world.
Along with this proposed urban renewal plan, the design of the new zoo looks to have a more proper management of waste and water system.
The city plan also said that with the vertical-type zoo, the animals will be better taken care of.
Related stories:
– Volunteers clean up and rehabilitate Manila Zoo
– The problem with zoos and how to tell which ones are okay
– Maali, the Sri Lankan elephant
