Province’s ELA strengthens Capitol’s dev’t framework

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu provincial government's three-year executive and legislative agenda (ELA) is now geared towards strengthening Capitol’s programs and services with the creation of a comprehensive development framework.

The framework is aimed at attaining sustainable development in Cebu through three major projects dubbed as MEDAL (managed and expedite deliverables), OD (organizational development) and COBRA (collect overdue balance and remittances accounts).

These are new identified banner projects of the province that will be aligned with the administration’s six key development agenda that includes health and social services; countryside development; education and technical vocational training; environmental protection, climate change and disaster risk management; infrastructure development, tourism and investment promotion; and law and order.

Under the three-year plan, the province eyes to upgrade its hospitals, particularly in Carcar City, Danao City and Balamban from level 1 to level 2 facility.

A level 1 hospital has a 50-bed capacity, while a level 2 hospital has a 150-bed capacity.

Once the three hospitals achieve a Level 2 status, a blood collecting unit can already be established there. This would allow these hospitals to collect and distribute blood to other hospitals.

Aside from upgrading the hospitals under the Capitol’s health and services programs, the provincial government is planning also to strengthen its community building social programs.

Other projected projects include the construction of 2,000 more classrooms through public-private partnership; establishment of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority centers in every local government units; identification of economic zones and potential locators; intensifying implementation of the Purok-based disaster risk reduction and management; adoption of the Mega Cebu roadmap study, among others.

As to infrastructure development, the province is planning to establish “greenway links” to provide alternative road access throughout the province.

Architect Florentino Nimor Jr., head of the Provincial Planning and Development Office, earlier said the roads will also have trees along the pavements.

"Also, it is designed with less environmental impact and also provides a dedicated lane for people to do green growth practices such as walking, jogging and biking," he said.

Nimor said the alternative routes will help ease traffic congestion, particularly in Metro Cebu.

He earlier told The Freeman that the province lacks alternate road networks for the arterial roadways.

"We need to have parallel roads and connect all roads all over the province. Because we lack alternate roads, our congested main thoroughfares will paralyze connectivity, affecting our local economy," he said.

Alternate roads, he said, will supplement the trans-axial highway project, which is a 280-kilometer road that connects the northern and southern tips of Cebu.

Starting from the town of Daanbantayan in the north, the trans-axial road is expected to traverse Cebu's mountains going to Santander town in the south.

Part of the plan also is the installation of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras throughout the province to “facilitate a preventative approach to criminality.”

All of these are incorporated in the province’s banner projects with their respective target indicators.

These are outcomes of the collaborative action from all stakeholders during the three-day ELA formulation. The projects were produced through a project prioritization tool, which aims to create desired impact development that will realize the vision of the provincial government. —/GAN (FREEMAN)