CEBU CITY, Philippines—The city governments of Cebu, Talisay, and Mandaue will be meeting in August to discuss the problems of traffic and flooding that has plagued the interconnected cities.
Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella, Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes, and Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony Gullas will be meeting in a traffic and flooding summit to discuss possible solutions to the problem.
“In principle, we already agreed to hold the summit. We just need to finalize the other details like the date on when the summit will be. We will start first with the cities of Talisay and Mandaue but we will also include other local government units soon,” Labella said.
Initially, he said the mayors agreed to hold the summit after seeing the need to have a unified solution on the two top common problems of the three cities.
In the part of Cebu City, Labella said said there is a need for the City to coordinate with its neighboring local government units to allow them to create a more effective and efficient means of solving the concerns on traffic and flooding.
The flooding that continued to plague the three cities has also contributed to the worsening problem of traffic congestion.
In his inaugural speech, Labella emphasized that there is a need for a long-term solution to the city’s traffic woes and measures to address the problem on flooding should be foremost on the City Government’s agenda.
Labella is also now in talks with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in undertaking massive dredging of the city’s waterways.
He already met with the officials of DPWH, Cebu City Engineering District, and the Department of Engineering and Public Works last Monday, July 15, 2019.
During the meeting, Labella and the DPWH officials discussed the plan to undertake a massive dredging to clean the city’s major rivers and waterways. /bmjo