Council approves request for street widening

The request of barangays Calamba and Labangon for the widening of A. Lopez Street and the building of a new road to Pablo Abella Street has gained the support of the Cebu City Council.

The council approved a resolution requesting the City Planning and Development Office and the City Engineering Office to conduct a separate study, survey and prepare a plan for the widening of A. Lopez Street of at least two meters on both sides, and for a new road connecting it to P. Abella Street, formerly known as Happy Valley Street.

Councilor Jose Daluz III, proponent of the resolution, said the barangay councils, led by barangay captains Victor Quijano of Calamba and Felix Abella of Labangon, held a joint session last April 4 to demand from the city government the infrastructure projects that would improve the traffic flow in their areas.

The barangays contended that to widen A. Lopez Street would surely decongest traffic because vehicles coming to and from Labangon may no longer pass Vicente Rama Avenue.

Daluz, whose ancestral house is located at the Happy Valley Street, also agreed on the propriety of the proposal for A. Lopez Street, saying that its present width is so narrow at only five meters, which always results in traffic congestion in the area.

The narrow street restricts access of police cars, fire trucks or ambulances in times of emergencies, and to widen it would also provide relief to motorists and decongest traffic on Katipunan Street, V. Rama Avenue and Natalio Bacalso Avenue, said Daluz.

The barangay governments however admitted that such project would affect hundreds of families living in the area, because they would lose their homes as a result and will demand for a relocation site.

Daluz also observed that the number of informal settlers along A. Lopez Street continues to increase making the congestion unmanageable. Worse, the place has become a known haven of people involved in the illegal drug trade in the area, he said.

Some residents who were asked by The FREEMAN on this project were apprehensive that the city would not provide them relocation site after they are evicted in favor of the road widening.

“Maayo man nang ilang plano nga palapdan ang karsada apan maayo usab unta nga hatagan mi nila og lugar nga kabalhinan,” an old woman resident of A. Lopez Street said.

The proposed widening of A. Lopez Street would affect 89 lots that are located beside the road from the corner of Katipunan Street to P. Abella Street.

Calamba and Labangon officials, however, said that some of the affected lot owners were willing to donate portions of their properties for the sake of the road widening because it will also result in the improvement of the residents’ economic condition. — Rene U. Borromeo/RAE