Bike park rises at former Payatas dump

MANILA, Philippines — The Quezon City government has opened a new bicycle park and trails at the Payatas Controlled Disposal Facility (PCDF) as part of its bid to provide more green and open spaces for residents.

Following its closure in 2010, the PCDF is being developed by the city government as a public recreational area in line with Mayor Joy Belmonte’s 14-point agenda to build a liveable, green and sustainable city.

The city government said that aside from the bike park, the PCDF will also have a bamboo park, a dog park, an open-air museum and a plant nursery, among others.

In 2020, Belmonte created a technical working group tasked with the redevelopment of the former dump into a public open space for recreational and environmental awareness purposes.

“The (PCDF) Bike Park is proof to the international community that Quezon City can create a safe and green community. From being an area of mounds of garbage, the facility is now pleasant and safe for recreational activities,” Belmonte said in a statement in Filipino yesterday.

The PCDF Bike Park will have four designated routes utilizing its asphalt roads and off-road trails.

These include a 900-meter “beginner route” with three detours leading to “view deck route” with a scenic view of the park.

The other two routes are the “beginner trail“ and the “perimeter trail,” which feature trails for mountain biking, gravel routes and mild steep ascents and descents.

The city government said that to date, it has established 167 kilometers of protected national and city bike lanes as well as 15 bike ramps strategically located in the city’s overpasses and underpasses.

As of April, the city has over 200 parks and open spaces. The goal of Belmonte’s administration is to double this number by 2030.

The city government said its engineering department, together with private partner Woodfields Consultants Inc., is conducting a geotechnical investigation and slope stability analysis of the PCDF to ensure the safety of the area.

The city government said that the analysis, so far, revealed that under normal conditions with no extensive rainfall or any seismic activity, the “Old Mound” and portions of the landfill can be utilized for various activities such as biking, jogging and zumba, “but with strict limitations on the number of visitors to avoid crowding.”