EDITORIAL: JOLT FOR MINGLANILLA
Minglanilla town is closer to the province’s major urban center, Cebu City, compared with, say the City of Naga. It is another old city’s neighbor, Talisay. But Minglanilla is a town in need of a jolt economically even as it is grappling with myriads of problems, including traffic.
Now comes Belmont One, a theme park that is being constructed in Barangay Calajoan and which would feature an ice haven and the country’s second tallest ferris wheel. That is aside from a hotel with an initial 300 rooms, a convention center with a seating capacity of 500, six restaurants, 15 food park slots and 27 retail slots. The theme park could be a game changer for the town.
But wait. While the theme park is the jolt that Minglanilla desperately needs, its realization needs to be prepared well. Chester Lim, president of Belmont One, the firm that is constructing the park, needs all the help he can get on this one, especially on one of the biggest concerns, traffic.
Belmont One is set to provide around 200 parking slots for the complex so now the ball is on the Minglanilla Municipal Government and even the Cebu Provincial Government to ensure that traffic would not become much of a problem once the integrated family entertainment facility is already operational.
Minglanilla’s traffic setup is fragile; even a minor disturbance could already create gridlocks that hamper travel to and from south Cebu via the south highway. The town government has actually still to solve the lack of a viable alternative route once monster jams form in the highway.
Perhaps Jonathan Tumulak, Capitol’s point person on traffic, together with the Minglanilla Traffic Command and municipal government officials can already anticipate possible traffic problems once the theme park is operational and come up with possible solutions. They could, for example, focus on the alternative routes whose improvement the local government has continued to neglect.
The theme park can be the best thing to happen to Minglanilla in years. But its officials have to be aggressive and creative in preparing for its operation. They cannot do the same thing they are doing now and expect to be ready for its entry.