A comment on Cebu's bad road network!

I had a lengthy comment on the article we wrote yesterday about the sad state of disrepair for our road network in Metro Cebu. I had to cut a few paragraphs of the letter so it would fit this column.

“Dear Mr. Avila: You don’t know me but I am a foreigner, having lived in Cebu since ’94 although I worlk abroad and a son-in-law to a former PIO of Cebu City Hall who is also a mediaman like you, Mr. Vic Sapio. Your articles reminding the various LGUs in the upkeep of safe roads is indicative of the lackadaisical way of how things are done here in Cebu.

Elections are coming so again we will see roads getting repaired. Where is the Mayor’s promise of their so-called “Asphalt Storm”? I believe it won’t happen as the gov’t is basically bankrupt as no one seems to have asked proper independent audited financial accounts of the Cebu City gov’t. Once campaign funds roll in then expect to see the storm going into operation. There is just no planning and preventive maintenance going on anywhere in the city. The planning department is a joke in terms of basic infrastructure but the private sector is booming with buildings being constructed like wild fire but where is the gov’t?

Mandaue roads are a real mess and an embarrassment to locals and visitors alike. We used to travel this Hernan Cortes Road many times. Where were the promises to widen and rehabilitate this road completely. All the gov’t officials must travel their city roads everyday yet they must be blindfolded as to the state of the roads and have no pride in the way the basic infrastructure looks in their own backyards! If you have this mentality then forget about any roads being repaired. Even the SRP is now showing large cracks on the asphalted sections. This is not even being used full blast yet!

The provincial gov’t is no better as their excuse is it’s up to the DPWH to repair roads so they also turn a blind eye. Just look at the state of the North Road. It’s a total embarrassment going North. There was a newly-asphalted section but after 18 months this has turned to what it was originally. I asked our good friend Atty. J. Sepulveda who is an avid cyclist what can be done and even he says its all politics.

I have had friends visit here and I have to warn them of the traffic jams, bad roads, beggars, street kids, pollution, etc. It’s not a pretty picture to paint for my friends as I feel embarrassed as this city could be so much better with money channeled into the right places. But in reality the Cebuano people have to put up with what they have. The Cebuano people probably are the most hospitable in the whole country but why they have to put up with substandard planning and basic infrastructure is very sad indeed. Any real investor worth his weight in gold would see that Cebu has a very bad road network, lack of stable power and shortage of water so why would you want to invest here to be frank other than Tourism?

The island really needs new visionaries who can get things done and not belong to Family Dynasties as this would be a huge leap forward for Cebu. But it’s not going to happen in our lifetimes. Sadly we are stuck in a time warp whilst China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand are all forging ahead in their plans of basic infrastructure development and in China’s case are built even if some of its is not environmentally friendly. Bottom line is, they planned and executed for the benefit of their people.

Cebu has a large tourist potential but even here basic utilities like clean comfort rooms dotted around at various public tourist sites are non-existent. Simple things like this put-off visitors as they come to relax and what they see, say, from the Airport to the Marco Polo Hotel, is traffic gridlock, pollution, bad roads, no highway code being enforced, street kids begging at every traffic light intersection, dangerous smoke belching vehicles on the road along with other hazardous modes of transport.

All LGUs in Cebu are all reactive not pro-active. The lack of gov’t planning and implementation is so frustrating knowing that Cebu can be so much better with the right people in place. I’m sure many people share these views.

I hope you keep up the hard hitting columns of yours on basic infrastructure such as roads and when will there be a decent road network that will be maintained. Kind Regards... Richard Clarke, KSA”

Thanks for a very incisive letter Mr. Clarke; it is unfortunate that I’m getting a response from a foreigner, not a native Cebuano. But just the same, his observations are on the nail, that the road network in Cebu needs fixing very badly. But most important of all is that LGUs must do better in maintaining our roads, rather than letting them break up and turn into a moonscape! We must remind our leaders that Cebu has to maintain a high standard in our infrastructure otherwise, let’s kiss our tourism boom goodbye!

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