RAINS DELAY CITY ROAD REPAIRS
Cebu City Engineer Josefa Ylanan assures that all civil works will be done before the Sinulog next month, as long as there will be no incessant rains Cebu City Acting Mayor Edgardo Labella wrote DPWH 7 and requested that patching of roads be done at night to avoid adding to the congestion on major thoroughfares
Because of the tropical storms that hit the country last week, Cebu City’s Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) will not be able to patch up all potholes around the city before the year ends, contrary to what they promised.
City Engineer Josefa Ylanan, though, assured that all civil works will be finished before the Sinulog next month.
“Rest assured that we will be able to consume all the asphalt before February. We will be able to finish everything by the second week of January as long as the weather permits,” she told
SunStar Cebu.
Since last Dec. 4, Ylanan said, DEPW personnel have been working overtime, including weekends, to make sure that damaged roads all over the city are patched by the end of the month. DEPW is working on a P35-million allocation from the 2017 annual budget for the road repair project.
The city engineer added that the project is part of the City Government’s preparation for road concreting, as asphalting is no longer deemed effective given the unpredictable weather.
DEPW was able to fix around 15 percent of the dilapidated roads a week after civil works began, Ylanan said.
As of Dec. 11, roads in Barangays Tisa, Inayawan, Calamba and Sambag I were already repaired by DEPW.
Two days later, DEPW personnel started with the patching work in portions of Barangay Guadalupe, and on Andres Abellana St., Juana Osmeña Ext. and A. Lopez St.
It has been more than three weeks since, and Ylanan’s office has now fixed almost 50 percent of dilapidated roads.
As of now, they are still working on Tagunol St., which is currently used as an alternative route for northbound vehicles affected by the construction of a multi-million underpass project in N. Bacalso Ave.
Ylanan said that they have already used more than half of their budget for the procurement of asphalt.
DEPW personnel will be on duty until today before they take a break for the New Year’s Day celebration. They will resume with the repair works on Jan. 3.
“Ang atoa lang karun kay atong gitanaw asa ang mga laglom na pothole na atong trabahuon angay trabahuon. There is somebody nga nag roving nga magdetermine og asa to ang laglom kaayo,” she said.
Meanwhile, Acting Mayor Edgardo Labella is asking the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 to work on the patching of dilapidated roads during night time following com- plaints of vehicular traffic.
In a letter to DPWH 7 Director Ador Canlas, Labella said road works currently done during the day contribute to the traffic congestion on some major thoroughfares.
One road, which Labella particularly mentioned is the Banilad-Talamban (Bantal) road, which is already congested even on normal days.
“Traffic on the road in question has always been a problem even without the extraneous factors like road repair work and accidents. Add to this the customary increase in the number of vehicles on the road associated with the holidays,” Labella said.
Instead of doing it during the day when the flow of vehicular traffic is heavy, the acting mayor finds it better that the works be done from 9 p.m to 5 a.m.
Patching works are also being done along North Reclamation Area and Junquera St.
Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) Operations Chief Francisco Ouano welcomed Labella’s move.
Ouano said they asked DPWH 7 to coordinate with them whenever they do patching works, so CTTO could send a personnel to man the traffic. /