Why can't we speed up road widening projects?

If I have been against any road widening projects, it is not that I'm totally against it, but rather it is because road widening projects in this country entails a painstakingly long and arduous, albeit bureaucratic or more often than not, lengthy judicial process, which is open to corruption. Our case in point are two glaring projects… one, the road widening of Escario St. from Gorordo Ave. to Arch. Reyes Ave., a very short 14 kilometer project that lasted at least 10 years to be completed.

The other project, which I pushed hard when I was CITOM chairman, is the widening of R. Duterte St. from the side of the Provincial Capitol to the corner of V. Rama Ave. and Banawa. It's been eight years since I left CITOM and this is how frustrating government infrastructure projects are in this country, where agencies like the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) work as if they are not in a hurry. This is why you see DPWH road working signs that declare, “Slow Men at Work!”

Apparently history is being repeated in the widening of the North Road projects or the Tayud-Consolacion-Liloan road, which starts at the beautiful Cansaga Bridge in Cansaga Bay. It's been three years under the Aquino government and somehow the funding for the road widening has not been realized. So let's ask… how many more years will it take for the DPWH to finish this road widening project? My bet is… long after Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III is out of Malacañang after the year 2016.

Perhaps you may want to know… how then former Mayor Tomas Osmeña was able to pull a stunt like the widening of major thoroughfares in Cebu City and Mandaue City… from B. Rodriguez, V. Rama, the Imus road linking P. Del Rosario St. to M.J. Cuenco Ave. and A.S. Fortuna? These were the projects that we did in Central Visayas with the World Bank assisted Central Visayas Regional Projects (CVRP), which was spin off as the Metro Cebu Development Projects I, II & III, with the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) of Japan as the leading agency to handle this infrastructure development. But that was in the 80s and 90s when I was still young!

Indeed, those were the times when then Mayor Tomas Osmeña had a sort of “magic wand” where he became the envy of other Local Government Units (LGUs) because at that time, he practically cornered 50 percent of the funding for all major infrastructure projects in the country. His advantage was he did his homework and did it well. Plus the fact that he listened to the people around him, advising him of the proper way to handle these projects.

Incidentally, a friend of mine complained to me yesterday why I was hitting on the negatives of Tomas Osmeña in our columns. He wanted me to also write about the good days and the good things he has done for Cebu City. My answer to that is this column today… where we must give credit where credit is due. Apparently, the friends of Tomas Osmeña aren't happy when we tell the truth about the Tommy Osmeña that we know today. I'll have them know that we Cebuanos have “rewarded” the efforts of then Mayor Osmeña by giving him a political victory in all the elections he participated in the last 20 years. Na bayran na si Tomas for those projects!

But these great things that former Mayor Osmeña did happened in the 90s and that was during our MCDP days. But things have changed since the Japanese government instructed the OECF that they would no longer fund any road widening projects in the Philippines because apparently the Japanese government saw that road-right-of-way projects has become a way for Filipinos to get money from these Japanese funds. The Japanese government thought and believe that Cebuanos who live in areas where the roads would be widened should be more than happy that it would affect their properties because the value of the land would increase after the road widening is over and done with.

That my friends are the reasons why today we can no longer bring back the MCDP Projects to Cebu. But the Japanese government has not really abandoned the Philippines. They would fund any road projects for as long as they won't give any money for the widening of the roads.

So the big question that we ought to be asking all our political leaders from those currently in power and those in the opposition is… how can they speed up the infrastructure projects for Metro Cebu? I dare these politicians to tell us… how long should we the voter wait until the North Road project is widened and completed? As for Rep. Tomas Osmeña, he has to explain to his constituents in Cebu City why was his Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stopped by Pres. PNoy. I don't have to remind you that we Cebuanos are infrastructure development oriented and we have missed the boat in the last three years!

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