Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza said the inavailability of laborers who went on a Christmas break and the traffic gridlock it would have created during the holidays were the reasons why the road concreting projects in the city did not push through as scheduled.
The mayor said she had wanted the road projects to start right away and have even directed the City Traffic Management System to mount an information dissemination campaign.
“Nisabot lang sab ta sa contractors kay namakasyon man daw ilang mga laborers ug usa pa, atong nakita usab nga mograbe gyud ang inconvenience sa mga tawo ilabi na natungod sa holiday season (We just considered the contractors as their laborers went on vacation and we have also seen the inconvenience it will create because of the holiday season),” she said.
The ten road improvement projects in different areas in the city were scheduled to start last December 20, but were deferred to 2013 due to the realignment of priorities in the city’s infrastructure projects.
POLITICAL FOES
Remegio Oyao, chairman of Barangay Agus, had accused the Radazas of deliberated bypassing his barangay. He said his barangay was deprived of any infrastructure project because they are not politically allied with the Radazas.
Residents of Barangay Agus have long been complaining about the bad condition of the Ibabao-Agus road.
Residents of Barangay Pajac who were also affected by the poor state of the Abuno-Pajac-Maribago road launched a signature campaign to appeal to the mayor to look into their concerns.
Reacting to the allegation, Radaza said she had to focus on other priorities of her administration.
“Dili man tanan nga gikinahanglan sa siyudad imong madungan, Mao nga duna gyud mauwahi pero nakita na nato nang daan nga problema (We cannot attend to the city’s needs at the same time. That’s why there are things that had to be deferred),” she said.
The mayor added that even before Pajac residents mounted a signature drive, she already asked the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) to fix the road which was damaged due to their pipe laying project.
The MCWD project started in February last year and it took a long time before the utility firm was able to come to an agreement with city hall in regard to the road repair work. The MCWD gave P1.2 million as their share in the road rehabilitation while the city government allocated P12 million to be taken from the 2013 budget.
Among the road projects scheduled to start this month are the Marigondon crossing road, Pakpakan- Basak road, and the expansion of the General Aviation road. /CORRESPONDENT NORMAN V. MENDOZA