Road works worsen traffic in Cebu City; officials angry

CEBU CITY, Philippines—This premier city in the Visayas is a beneficiary of close to P400 million worth of government projects for road improvement but its officials are not at all happy with the way these are being carried out.

For one, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) failed to coordinate with the City Hall, especially since the road projects were causing traffic in many parts of the city, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama complained.

Unnecessary spending

Some roads being rehabilitated are still in good condition, noted Councilor Gerry Carillo, chair of the city council’s committee on traffic. “Some were even cemented by the city government but were just destroyed by the DPWH,” he said. “It becomes unnecessary spending.”

Residents are complaining of the dust and noise from the project sites. Eutiquia Romarate, 81, of Barangay (village) Lahug, said she had to sprinkle water over a portion of Salinas Drive in front of her house every morning to reduce the dust.

Project contractors have scraped the asphalt from the roads for a new layer.

According to the DPWH website, 20 road improvement projects worth P358.709 million are being implemented in Cebu, consisting of asphalt overlay and cement replacement.

The projects started in February and do not include the P289.5-million concreting of S. Osmeña Road, a national highway connecting Cebu City to neighboring Mandaue City in the north district and South Coastal Road in the south district.

Three other projects involved the dredging of Subangdaku River (P20.8 million), dredging and rip-rap work of Inayawan River (P10 million) and the construction of a new Sanciangko Street bridge (P1 million).

Road maintenance program

Marilyn Ojeda, head of the DPWH planning division in Central Visayas, said the ongoing projects were part of the agency’s road maintenance program. She explained that the project contractors had been “instructed” to coordinate with the City Hall before starting their work “but I cannot be certain if this has been complied with.”

“The DPWH is trying to preserve its assets, which are the roads, up to their maximum level of deterioration,” the DPWH official said.

But Carillo pointed out that because it failed to coordinate with the city, the

DPWH implemented projects that the city did not actually need.

To ease traffic, Rama has allowed the repairs to be done only at night.

This year, the Cebu City Development Council approved P941 million worth of project requests for national government funding, which consisted mostly of road widening, dredging of water bodies and establishment of rainwater catch basins. But the DPWH included only the Subangdaku and Inayawan river works.

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