Rama wants wider roads replicated

CEBU, Philippines -  A year after a fire hit two sitios in Barangay T. Padilla, the city government successfully restored and re-blocked two roads in the barangay, a project that Mayor Michael Rama said he wants to replicate in other crowded communities in the city.

Yesterday, Rama opened the brand new F. Villa Street, which is now 10 meters wide, including the sidewalk. A year ago, the road was barely passable to vehicles.

The T. Villa Street in the barangay has already been widened but is yet to be asphalted following the construction of the drainage system.

The budget to restore the two roads were taken from the budget for maintenance of roads of the Department of Engineering and Public Works while the budget for beautification efforts, which included the construction of sidewalks, was donated by the Chinese Community in Cebu.

The Chinese Community gave P300,000 to beautify F. Villa and T. Villa Streets.

Present during yesterday’s ribbon cutting ceremony were some barangay captains who Rama invited precisely for them to appreciate the importance of widening the road. Rama said he also wanted to send the message that restoring roads is not impossible with cooperation and coordination between barangay officials and the city government.

The next move now, the mayor said, is to replicate the T. Padilla project to other crowded areas in the city that are considered fire prone.

Rama said many areas do not have wide roads enough to accommodate fire trucks and other emergency vehicles in cases of emergency such as a fire. T. Padilla was hit by a huge fire in August 9 last year leaving almost 800 familes or over 3,000 individuals homeless.

In most fire scenes, narrow roads are what hinder firefighters from immediately penetrating interiors of crowded areas. —(FREEMAN)