Utility firms launch cleanup drive as summit preparation

Personnel from the Visayan Electric Company, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, Innove Communications, Bayantel Inc., Skycable, Unicable Inc., Eastern Telecom, PT&T, and Aboitiz Transport have joined hands for the first time in cleaning up and beautifying the city streets in preparation for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in December.

In a press conference yesterday, PLDT head consultant Dingdong Pisayco said the project actually started in February when Vice Mayor Michael Rama requested the utility companies to clean up their chaotic cable wires. The project, set to finish by October, is now 60 percent complete.

However, Pisayco cannot say which routes are already finished since the utility firms are working on different areas, saying that their target is to clean up all the streets that the summit delegates would pass by.

Pisayco said the companies have formed a steering committee composed of executives who would act on the concerns regarding the beautification, cleanup and standardization. The committee meets every week.

Among the accomplishments of the committee were the bundling of street cable wires during the Sinulog festivities and during the recent visit of New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke.

It also finished cleaning up the areas near the Chong Hua Hospital, which has requested PLDT to remove and reroute the wires in preparation for the medical requirements that the summit delegates might undertake.

Pisayco identified four major routes that the summit delegates would pass during the activities. The first route passes through Marcelo Fernan Bridge, North Reclamation Area and Plaza Independencia.

The second route would pass through Super Metro Mandaue City, M.J. Cuenco Avenue, Malacañang sa Sugbo, and the Cebu City Hall. The third route would pass through SM City Cebu, St. Joseph Parish Mabolo, Our Lady of Carmelites, Waterfront Cebu City Hotel, and Marco Polo Hotel while the fourth route would pass through Jollibee Mandaue City, Foodland in Banilad, and Ayala Center Cebu.

The total length of all routes is 29.3 kilometers, Pisayco said, but the utility companies would work on more than 40 kilometers since they would attend to both sides of the road.

The companies and the city governments of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu had spent more than P3.2 million for the project as of May 15. The expenditures included the costs for labor, equipment and other materials.

Pisayco said they could not say the total cost of the project because 40 percent of it is yet to be completed, adding that the cost would greatly depend on the speed of the bundling activities.

He said that it is also important to do the cleanup project in Lapu-Lapu City since the bulk of the delegates would stay there.

Their problem, he explained, is how to fix the wires in Lapu-Lapu City since VECO's jurisdiction ends in Mandaue City. Lapu-Lapu City is under the jurisdiction of Mactan Electric Company (MECO).

Pisayco, however, said that they have already coordinated with the company heads of MECO on the matter.

The utility firms are also planning to put up a hotline during the summit for emergency purposes, but Pisayco said they are still coordinating about the matter since it is a part of the overall plan.

VECO public relations head Paul Hubahib said the cleanup project would not end after the ASEAN Summit because it would be a continuing action.

Hubahib said he believed some utility companies are committed to the project as indicated in their monetary contribution. - Noreen B. Napoles