Rama eyeing P10-B budget for next year

Implementing Cebu City’s long-delayed drainage master plan would require more than double the P4.5-billion budget the city government has for this fiscal year.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama wants the P10-billion budget next year to fully implement the project.

This means the city government will maximize its tax collection efforts to reach the target, he said.

In yesterday’s press conference, Rama said he asked the department heads if it was possible to reach that budget and to identify all possible sources of revenue.

The burden of raising these funds falls under the City Treasurer’s Office, the mayor said.

“Right now we are still collating data for the 2012 budget,” City Budget Officer Nelfa Briones said.

City Treasurer Ofelia Oliva said in a separate interview that she doesn’t know anything about Rama’s plan to raise the city’s 2012 budget to P10 billion.

The local chief executive is mandated by law to submit to the City Council the draft budget for the succeeding year on October of the current year.

The council has until Dec. 31 of the current year to pass next year’s budget.

In the absence of a new budget, the current year’s budget would have to be reenacted in the succeeding year.

Rama said he still has with him the list of 150 projects he wanted to carry out upon assuming as city mayor.

Priority projects include the city’s P800-million drainage master plan, urban poor housing projects, road concreting in upland barangays and the construction of a sewerage treatment facility.

Rama said he wanted a new abattoir for the city along with a coastal boulevard and heritage- and tourism-related projects that would revitalize downtown Cebu City.

“I don’t want to be conclusive but any possible source of tax would have to be taxed (to raise the money that we need),” he said.

Rama said consultations will be done with the business sector and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) on the collection of taxes.

The mayor said he was ready to sell lots at the South Road Properties (SRP) or make them collateral for loans to finance the drainage master plan.

He said an inspection he made on the Mahiga Creek last Tuesday showed to him how serious flooding is in the city.

Rama said the city needed to dredge waterways, remove illegal settlers and widen the culverts to allow the free flow of floodwater.

He said the water level would even reach eight feet whenever there is a heavy downpour.

He said 100 illegally built structures reduced the six-meter-wide river in the area to only a meter of space, resembling a canal.

Rama said the creek needs to be cleared of illegal structures to save lives and properties.

“How can we bring water to the see when the river is constricted?,” the mayor said.