Mega Cebu board: Urgent road repairs, joint effort of cities needed for 2015

Metro Cebu has to act quickly to address traffic bottlenecks and dilapidated roads because Cebu is likely the venue of three high-level meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit in 2015.

The urgency was brought up yesterday in a meeting of Mega Cebu leaders at the Capitol.

“There’s no official announcement yet,” said business leader Gordon Allen “Dondi” Joseph, co-chairman of the Metro Cebu Development Coordinating Board.

“But we’ve been unofficially told that Cebu will host three of the 22 Apec events between August and September 2015.”

He said a senior ministers meeting will have 3,500 delegates and two other meetings for finance ministers and foreign ministers “with slightly smaller” groups.

The announcement prompted mayors of Cebu and Mandaue cities to acknowledge that traffic management needs a joint effort instead of thinking on a one-city-basis.

“Mandaue is willing to have an integrated traffic system with Cebu City and other local governments,” declared Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes in the meeting.

“We don’t have to be fancy; just put into action what we have planned.”

“We should lay our cards on the table,” he added and “coordinate basic ordinances.” He observed that “we have different truck bans in Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu city and Cebu City.”

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama suggested it was about time to discuss the creation of a Metro Cebu Traffic Authority in a “non-political” atmosphere.

He said other solutions like fixing busted traffic signals, widening roads and adding flared intersections were being pursued.

If needed, he said, the Mega Cebu localities can lobby again with national agencies to suspend issuing new franchises for public transport because “there are so many multi-cabs, more than needed” as well as jeepneys and taxis congesting urban roads.

The MCDCB, which aims to coordinate growth plans and programs in Mega Cebu covering 13 cities and towns, held its third quarterly meeting yesterday. It was chaired for the first time by Gov. Hilario Davide III and attended by private sector members and mayors who won in last May’s local elections.

Also present were Liloan Mayor Duke Frasco and Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy.

Mayor Frasco said they should look into the volume of vehicles already on the road, noting that “there are many car dealerships in Cebu but not enough roads.” Mayor Sitoy of Cordova repeated the need for a third access or bridge between mainland Cebu and Mactan to ease traffic.

P388 MILLION

The good news is that as a host city of Apec we can expect national government funds to be channeled to fix infrastructure like roads, drainage and the Cebu International Convention Center.

Roads from the international airport in Lapu-Lapu City to the venues and hotel accommodations in Mactan, Mandaue and Cebu City would get priority attention.

An amount of P388 million has been earmarked for Apec preparations in Cebu, a public works official reported yesterday to the Board.

Engr. Leah Alegre of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reported that P388 million was listed for Apec preparations in Cebu. No details were given yet. She said this was a draft Financial Expenditures Statement of the agency for 2014.

Lito Maderazo, president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), said the private sector looks forward to the infrastructure improvement that Apec hosting would bring.

He emphasized that “we need to be ready to identify what we need” when the DPWH prepares its list of projects.

A list of priority projects for Metro Cebu was presented last February to DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson in Manila by the Mega Cebu board.

Engr. Jun Sanchez, private sector member, presented the list of projects,which mostly involves road widening, including the H. Cortes Road in Mandaue City.

Cebu has to compete with other potential host cities like Iloilo and Cagayan de Oro for the Apec Summit. Cebu made its official bidding and presentation in Manila through the MCDCB board represented by Joseph and business chambers two months ago.

Manila will host the meeting of the Apec heads of state, but other events will be distributed to other parts of the country.

Joseph told the Mega Cebu board that Cebu should not be complacent because Iloilo and Cagayan de Oro also made bids and “think they can overtake Cebu” as a hosting site.