CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (CITOM) has proposed a P10 million budget for the "signalization project" at the South Road Properties (SRP) next year.
The amount is part of the proposed appropriation for the Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) in the 2014 annual budget amounting to P3.9 billion.
The signalization project, which involves installing of traffic lights at the SRP, is in line with the request of Filinvest Land, Inc. (Filinvest).
CITOM Executive Director Atty. Rafael Yap said traffic lights will help reduce the occurrence of accidents involving vehicles at the SRP, particularly at the area where the Filinvest property is situated.
Yap said CITOM is also proposing a Geometric-alignment Junction in Imus road, considering that at least five vehicular incidents have occurred in the area.
"The signalization project (traffic lights) is part of the traffic-coming measures and geometric-alignment junction of Imus will serve as accident block spot especially this month five accidents has been reported on the area" Yap said.
CITOM is also proposing another P10 million to fix and maintain the city's sidewalks.
CITOM originally proposed P22 million for the project, but the Committee on Budget and Finance of the City Council reduced the amount to P10 million based on the city's "realizable" sources of funds.
Councilor Sisinio Andales suggested that CITOM prioritize sidewalks in areas downtown.
Yap said they will submit to the Council a comprehensive list of sidewalks that CITOM wants to prioritize.
Councilor Margarita Osmeña who chairs the Council's committee on budget and finance, reiterated that the approval of the proposed budgets for next year would depend greatly on the city's available funds.
Meanwhile, Yap said the malfunction of traffic lights in the city is being caused by the rotating brownout. This affected the flow of traffic in malls and the downtown area. He said CITOM will deploy more personnel in critical areas during the Christmas season.
"Deployment nato sa mga tawo for December already takes into account added volume in these areas" said Yap. — (FREEMAN)