No infra works from Christmas to Sinulog

THE CEBU City Transportation Office (CCTO) is urging contractors implementing road infrastructure projects in the city to ensure completion before December 15 this year.

CCTO operations chief, Francisco Ouano, said they are mandated to issue a moratorium to stop road projects starting on December 15 until the third week of January.

However, Ouano also said they exempted the P638-million Mambaling Underpass and the drainage improvement along Juan Luna Avenue in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City from the moratorium.

“We made exemptions for the Mambaling Underpass and drainage construction in Juan Luna Avenue because we consider these as critical projects located in areas where there is heavy traffic, bottlenecks, and congestion,” Ouano said.

Ouano said the moratorium is aimed at decongesting possible heavy traffic due to the coming Christmas holiday and Sinulog.

He also said no road projects are allowed to start within the moratorium period.

“Actually, we’re doing this annually. We’re now asking them to make sure that their projects will be finished before December 15 so that these projects’ completion won’t be delayed,” he added.

If there will be no major delays incurred, the Mambaling Underpass is expected to be completed by March 2019.

The drainage repairs on Pope John Paul II Avenue, on the other hand, is also scheduled to be completed within the first half of 2019.

The CCTO also identified at least two major road rehabilitation projects being undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH – 7).

These are the road re-concreting projects in T. Padilla Extension, and F. Vestil Street, also known as the Mambaling Access Road that connects mainland Cebu to the South Road Properties (SRP) from Barangay Mambaling.

Ouano said they were notified by the respective contractors of these two projects that both will be finished by the first week of December.

“Hopefully, they can meet their target date before the moratorium will take effect so as not to delay its completion,” said Ouano.

Meanwhile, the CCTO official said the two side roads of the Mambaling Underpass will be opened this Saturday (November 24) as scheduled, which is expected to improve traffic in the area.

“This Saturday evening, the side roads will be opened. The contractor (WT Construction Inc.) already gave us an advisory that they will really proceed with the opening the side roads,” Ouano explained.