‘Building a storm tunnel easier than widening N. Bacalso Ave.’
Abellanosa
Building a stormwater underpass in south Cebu City would be easier to do than widening N. Bacalso Avenue to a six-lane highway that includes the tunnel, said former mayor and congressman Tomas Osmeñ yesterday.
Osmeña said he’s happy that his successor Rep. Rodrigo Abellanosa is pursuing the “SMART Tunnel” concept which Osmeña had mentioned before to address flooding in the south district during his tenure as congressman.
“We in Cebu City needed to widen several roads, but it’s a general rule that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has no money for road right of way (RROW) acquisition which is s very expensive,” Osmeña said.
Osmeña asked the DPWH to consider all options before pursuing the widening of N. Bacalso Avenue from four lanes to six lanes.
He recalled that road widening under the Banilad flyover took years to implement because of RROW concerns which cost P80 million. It’s taken almost 10 years for DPWH to widen M. Velez Street, which is still ongoing.
In last Friday’s Mega Cebu meeting of Cebu congressmen, Abellanosa reported that his proposal is up for DPWH funding when Congress starts budget deliberations since the DPWH finished a feasibility study and initial designs for it.
Abellanosa said he was lobbying for a P715 million budget to finance phase 1 in the 2015 national budget for what could be the biggest sincgle infrastructure project in Cebu City.
Tourism roads
Osmeña said while he keeps good relations with administration officials, he isn’t part of the lobby effort here “because I am lobbying for other projects.”
“To me, the best is to lobby for tourism roads that lead to tourism destinations in Cebu,” he said.
Osmeña said he is helping Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy secure funding for a causeway or road that will connect Shell Island off Cebu City to the neighboring Cordova town.
Nevertheless, Osmeña said he supports what Congressman Abellanosa calls a 700-meter “smart underpass” which includes underground cisterns that will hold runoff rainwater in Natalio Bacalso Avenue along the intersection of F. Llamas Street during a downpour.
The project was patterned after the “SMART Tunnel” in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which is considered the longest storm water tunnel in Southeast Asia.
Completed in 2007, year at a cost of US $514 million, the “storm water management and road tunnel” or SMART tunnel is a 9.7-kilometer underpass used for both vehicles and a stormwater catchment that reduces traffic jams at rush hour.
Osmeña said he recalls the proposal cropped up after a series of meetings with Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson, who introduced it to him.
Singson had cisterns built to prevent flooding in Fort Bonifacio when he was still in the private sector.
The tunnel temporarily stores rainwater and prevents it from flooding the streets. Water is later pumped out into the sea when the rain stops.
The concept prevented RROW problems that could have broken out if they were to put up a drainage line that would channel rainwater to Manila Bay.
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