DPWH must think “out-of-the box”

For our special presentation on our talk show “Straight from the Sky,” we bring you updates from our friends from Globe Telecom led by Ms. Tania Padilla, Store Head Vis-Mind, Mr. Philip Araneta, Retail Store Head Cebu City, Ms. Theresa Estrada, Retail Area Head and Francis Yu, Network Operations Head. These top Globe Telecom executives will give us their updates on their various fields of expertise for the Year 2014.

‘Most important of all, Globe Telecom consumers would like to know what’s the latest in Globe’s Network expansion updates… especially in this Christmas season. So watch this very interesting show on SkyCable’s channel 61 at 8:00 tonight with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. We also have replays on MyTV’s channel 30 at 9:00PM tonight and on 7:00AM and 9:00PM on Wednesday and Friday respectively.

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Last Friday, we played witness once again to one of the most horrendous traffic jams ever seen in Cebu City, especially along the Gorordo Ave. area where the traffic congestion started from the Harold’s Hotel all the way to JY Square. This is now the second time that we have seen this happen at Gorordo Ave. I suspect it could only mean that with the closure of H. Cortez St. which runs parallel to the Banilad-Talamban Road, motorists try to avoid passing Arch. Reyes Ave. and instead pass through Gorordo Ave. which in the end had resulted in that humongous traffic jam.

As to the road works that we’ve been harping about, I finally got a copy of a letter from DPWH District Engineer Fernando Cruz that he sent to the Regional Director of DPWH in Region 7 regarding the article we wrote last Dec. 5 when we printed the complaints of our readers regarding the construction of those roads. This letter from DPWH to its regional director was about that bridge widening in Banilad road going towards the Sacred Heart School or Ateneo de Cebu. But since this letter is quite long, allow me to put only the important excerpts of that letter.

Apparently from communiqué we learned that the road works have already been suspended for a long time now because DPWH says it is due to the delay in the relocation of the power posts of the Visayan Electric Company  and some trees along this road works. Now if my memory serves me right, VECO is quite efficient in handling such matters, but just the same, I will ask VECO CEO Anton Perdices about this project.

Another issue that was raised and we quote Engr. Cruz who said, “Due to limited resources, a detour bridge/road was not provided; hence the construction activities for the bridge widening shall be done phase by phase in order for the crane to occupy the space at the approaches aligned to the proposed widened section of the bridge.” Clearly those who planned this project did not factor in that all-important detour so that construction can proceed with less traffic disruption.

Now regarding the issue that we raised about having all road works especially on heavily travelled roads to be worked on a 24/7 basis, this is what Engr. Cruz had to say, “On the parked construction equipment, we regret that it happened this way. The contractor have to work supposedly on a 24/7 schedule but unfortunately the city government had allowed them to work only from 9:00AM to 5:00AM daily which had caused much delay to our implementation not to mention the moratorium issued by the same city government of Cebu that from Dec. 16 up to the 3rd week of January next year (after the Sinulog Festival) no contractor is allowed to work on any project within Cebu City.”

I would like to know who signed this moratorium from Cebu City because what has the Sinulog Festival got to do with road works especially in the areas far from the Sinulog Parade route? It’s bad enough that these road projects are already delayed. This moratorium only adds more months of unnecessary congestion. I still say that road construction should continue into the evening and the wee hours of the morning.

Anyway, we’d like to thank Engr. Fernando S. Cruz for providing me a copy of this letter. Frankly speaking, it is heartening to know that DPWH does read our columns and have responded accordingly. However let me exhort them to think “out-of-the-box.” The old DPWH way is passé and these times call for new strategies especially in the light of traffic congestions.

If you ask me, DPWH should sit in the CITOM board and in the Tedman board so that hopefully their cooperation would be welcomed by the suffering motorists who pass those roads on a daily basis. It is high time for our public servants to serve our long-suffering people. Is it too much to ask contractors to work 24/7 including Sundays and holidays? I don’t think so! [email protected]