The Cebu City Council announced yesterday that the construction of the Bonbon-Buot-Taup Bridge is under way.
Although Tomas Osmeña opposed the project when he was mayor, saying it was expensive and would only benefit a few residents, his wife Councilor Margot Osmeña announced during the council’s first off-site session in the mountain barangay of Bonbon that the bridge construction would start next year.
“The Bonbon Bridge used to be a dream (for residents) pero dili na ni damgo ha (but this will no longer be a dream now),” she said.
With an P8-million outlay in Supplemental Budget 2, City Engineer Kenneth Carmelita Enriquez said the bridge may be started in the first quarter next year and be finished before the year ends.
It would take a month for her office to prepare the program of works and estimates and another month for bidding.
“With an P8-million budget, dali ra ana. Months ra na (to complete,” Enriquez said.
Bonbon barangay captain Alex Ebareta said the absence of a bridge has been a problem of residents for a long time now.
He said children have to wade through the waters of Bonbon River everyday to go to school.
“Our biggest problem is the safety of children. When the water level rises, nobody can cross the river,” Ebareta said in Cebuano.
He said he was happy that the first off-site session was held in their barangay./Edison delos Angeles