Plans for two new flyovers in Cebu City are the subject of a public hearing on Aug. 26.
Owners of adjoining areas and other stakeholders will be invited, said Rep. Rachel “Cutie” del Mar of Cebu City’s north district.
She also announced that she arranged for P150 million national funding for road-widening work in the traffic-clogged Banilad-Talamban road.
The flyovers, which will cost P600 million, “will start this yearm,” she said in press statement.
One is planned near the Asilo de Milagrosa at the intersection of Gorordo Avenue and Arch. Reyes Street while the other is near Carreta cemetery in the intersection of M.J. Cuenco Avenue and Gen. Maxilom Avenue intersection.
Opposition to the new flyovers is expected from Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and several businessmen.
Rama wrote the Secretary of the Dept. of Public Works and Highways last July objecting to the massive overpasses, which he said are “to the detriment of cheaper and effective alternative solutions” like road widening, flared intersections and other ideas. The mayor pushed for an updated Metro Cebu transport study.
The additional flyovers for Cebu City were approved during the term of Del Mar’s father Rep. Raul del Mar.
Cutie yesterday highlighted the Banilad-Talamban roadwork in infrastructure accomplishments for her first year in office.
She said a total P158 million is available for two separate projects to help the city cope with traffic congestion and flooding.
The funds are as follows:
* P150 million for the road widening and concreting of Gov. ManuelCuenco Avenue from Mahiga Bridge to the corner of Cabangcalan Quezon Street and Quezon Avenue, which will complement the existing Banilad flyover and help ease traffic congestion in the area;
(P100 million is allotted to acquire road-right-of-way and P50 million for drainage system, curbs and gutters, and sidewalks.)
* P7.960 million for improving the drainage system at Colon and Junquera Streets, major flood-prone areas in the city.
Funds for both projects, Del Mar said, are in addition to the P600 million funding for two more flyovers in the north district.
She said public works funds secured by her congressional office this year will total P1.182 billion.
That includes P378 million regular infrastructure for DPWH and the P46 million of her Priority Development Assistance fund (PDAF) or pork barrel, which sets aside P1 million for each of the 46 barangays in the north district.
Each of the two new flyovers has been allocated P300 million, with P150 million for the structure and P150 million for the road right-of-way and widening of streets on both sides.
Del Mar said she has requested DPWH Regional Director Pedro Herrera Jr. to schedule the public hearing on the plans and specifications of the two flyovers.