Quo vadis, SRP Rotunda?

In August 2021, I wrote a three-part series about the SRP Rotunda. What first surprised me with this project was the instant approval of the Cebu City Council on the DPWH proposal without the benefit of a thorough evaluation. As a matter of policy, while DPWH oversees the construction of national roads, the responsibility of the city’s road network still remains with the city government considering it is on top of its traffic management. That’s why it needed a City Council approval in the first place, which means the city has evaluated it and agreed with its viability indicators.

My three-part write-ups were not meant to be a holistic, technical, and economic analyses of the project --clearly enough, these can’t be squeezed into three columns. Rather, I was hoping we have generated enough appreciation of the need for further substantial engineering evaluation of the proposal and its resultant economic feasibility which would ultimately determine its value and importance. While the proponent (DPWH) would have done this, it is incumbent on any approving or endorsing authority, whether its NEDA or the City Council, to evaluate the viability prior to approval. This the City Council did not do, but quickly approved it --hook, line, and sinker.

Since it was approved, I’m sure many people were eagerly expecting its completion and can’t wait to use the highlighted “SRP Rotunda”. I had misgivings about it even if I had not done a proper evaluation of the matter, simply because the technical and economic conditions seem off --in size (diameter/number of lanes), curvature (radius), and vehicle operating speeds. When one studied Civil Engineering diligently, these things often become second nature --you look at it, compare it to other similar projects, do some rudimentary calculations, and sometimes, you’d feel uncomfortable. And as we normally do when in that situation --we suggested further studies to check.

Apparently, these were not considered, though I really didn’t expect them to be. The City Council is the City Council, its authority far transcends any newspaper comment. Together with everybody else, I waited for its completion, sincerely hoping my fears would prove unfounded. In a June 9, 2022, news report, DPWH announced the start of work, with an initial budget of ?250 million. The total project cost is ?600 million and it is to be completed in 2023. And we waited.

It is now nearing the end of April 2023. I checked with Google Earth to see any progress, but the site remained undisturbed as seen in the last satellite image as of September 2022. I often go to SM Seaside and each time I am there, I always look outside to see any progress of work. But there was still none, as of last week. What happened to the project? If it’s in the 2022 DPWH budget as announced, then there should have been substantial work already as of this time. But there’s none as far as we can see.

Hopefully, we will eventually see the completion of this rotunda and see Cebuanos benefitting from it. Better if it really works. It will excuse the instant approval of the city council sans the necessary diligent evaluation process.