Underpass project faces deferment

Businessman Glenn Soco, chairman of the Regional Development Council’s Infrastructure Development Committee, raises questions on the traffic management plan for the underpass project.
CDN Photo/Junjie Mendoza

STILL NO TRAFFIC PLAN

With no traffic management plan in sight, the Regional Development Council may push for the deferment of the underpass project along UN Ave. in Mandaue City.

Glenn Soco, head of the RDC’s Infrastructure Development Committee (IDC), said there is not enough time to craft a traffic management plan given that the P711.8 million project is targeted for construction on June or July.

“For us, in the absence of a traffic management plan, it would be good to defer the project and likewise to also address the other concerns of the project before it is implemented,” Soco said.

During the IDC’s first quarter meeting yesterday, Soco said they expected the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 to present the traffic management plan to them.

DPWH-7 Regional Director Ador Canlas, co-chairman of the IDC, was not present in yesterday’s meeting along with their planning division head Engr. Nonato Paylado.

Asst. planning division head Engr. Danilo Pasicaran was unable to answer the questions from the committee members.

Pasicaran only explained that the traffic management plan is still being formulated by B.M. Marketing, the Tacloban City-based contractor that won the project.

Soco said there were conditions agreed on during the IDC meeting two years ago.

These include improving three other intersections near the intersection of UN Ave. and Plaridel St., where the underpass will be located.

Also required were the creation of alternate roads prior to the start of the project; and extensive consultation with stakeholders.

But the DPWH-7 already awarded the design and build contract for the project last December.

Only the underpass and on-grade components of the tri-level pass project are included in the contract.

The flyover component, which starts from the Marcelo Fernan bridge going left to Plaridel St. has yet to be funded by the DPWH.

Soco said they are not trying to block the project.

He said they want to make sure that the project’s adverse impact will be mitigated especially since the project site connects the north and south areas of the province as well as Mactan Island to mainland Cebu.

A smaller group of IDC members will meet on March 7 before the full council meeting on March 16.

On March 16, Soco said the RDC will finally decide on whether or not to defer the underpass project.