Osmeña supports Talisay’s lifting of truck ban at CSCR
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday expressed support to the move of the Talisay City government lifting the truck ban along the Cebu South Coastal Road.
He said allowing the trucks to pass through the South Road Properties through the SCR is good for business as the road provides access to the Cebu City ports and the airport in Lapu-Lapu City.
“To me, banning the trucks there means you are stopping the distribution of (goods) into the countryside. That was a bad mistake,” Osmeña said.
He said that in the first place the SCR was constructed to “disperse” the people, for them to have work opportunities in other places so they would not be concentrated in one area.
Talisay City early this month amended its traffic code, allowing six-wheeler trucks and above as well as fuel tankers cement bulk carriers, among others, to pass through the SCR to the SRP.
“The purpose of the south coastal road is to disperse the people, and one way of dispersing the people is to disperse the industry…. People come to Cebu City because they are looking for a job…. (T)here is no industry in the countryside, that's why they are here,” Osmeña said.
That is why, he said, he also allowed the van-forhire terminal in Barangay Kamagayan to operate, for the public to come to and leave the city easily.
He admitted that lifting of the truck ban in Talisay City would cause traffic congestion but only on the short term”.
“On the short term, but then if you keep doing that no factories will go out, that is happening in Manila today,” he said.
Meanwhile, Cebu City Transportation Office Operations Chief Francisco “Isko” Ouano said they would check if the trucks passing through the SCR have delivery permits.
“Ang ato is as long as naa lang silay delivery permit, allow man ta kay kana siya for everybody man na siya sa SRP. Naa man gud tay himoon diha, naghuwat lang ta sa speed gun nato. Magbutang ta'g speed limit dinha para at least ma-regulate nato ang pagdagan sa sakyanan diha,” he said.
Ouano said the city government is now processing the purchase of the speed gun, which they hoped to use before the year ends.