The South Road Properties may soon be re-lit as the Department of Public Works and Highways has already promised to shoulder the repair of the busted lamps at the 295-hectare property.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday said that DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane promised to assume responsibility for the replacement of the busted lamps after Osmeña brought him to inspect the site.
Earlier, the mayor said the ongoing construction of the viaduct, a DPWH project near the Malacañang sa Sugbo, will cause more damage and might affect the marketability of the SRP because it is not completely lighted until now.
The mayor already called the attention of President Gloria Arroyo on the matter who in turn asked the DPWH to check.
But the other day the mayor had a chance to meet with Ebdane when he was invited to grace an activity here in Cebu.
“I invited him for a few minutes but he had to wait until sundown to see for himself. I just want him to understand the magnitude of the problem,” Osmeña said, “Secretary Ebdane promised they will change the lights. Actually, they have no choice because it is not supposed to be like that.”
He said that the electrical wiring affected by the viaduct construction already cost P7 million and the damaged SRP lighting is P1.5 million, which the city government repaired with its own money. He said that there are three lampposts missing already near the viaduct because they are not lighted.
Osmeña said that the lampposts are expensive to install and repair because the wires are not overhead but buried underground. He also explained that the cables used are not ordinary but thick and heavy-duty.
He said that to replace the stolen wires and cables for one lamppost within the SRP, the city government had to spend P1 million for one lamppost alone. He warned that the damage can get worse and repair costs may increase if the lamps are not attended to.
However, the DPWH earlier said that they cannot fix the damaged lamps because the tunnel was not yet turned over to them. It expects the viaduct to be finished and turned over to them by the contractor this year.
Osmeña also admitted that even street lamps installed at the SRP were not yet turned over to them by the DPWH.
Within the SRP, he said the bulbs of hundreds of lights along the highway are already busted. As much as the city wants to fix them, he said they cannot simply do this because aside from the fact that the screws of these lamps are already corroded within their casings, they have not been turned over to the city.
The city will have to spend P8 million to change everything, Osmeña added.
Osmeña said that although the replacement of all the lights at the SRP will cost a lot, the DPWH agreed to change them all.
“I pointed out to Secretary Ebdane that we give DPWH five hectares of the SRP. It is worth P8,000 per square meter or P80 million per hectare times five. So all in all it is worth P400 million,” the mayor said.
“Whatever it is, what I am asking is it is the project of DPWH so please fix it as soon as possible,” he added. -Wenna A. Berondo/BRP