CEBU Gov. Hilario Davide III has sought authority from the Provincial Board (PB) to allow the use of a province-owned land along the Banilad-Talamban corridor for the establishment of “pocket lanes” to ease vehicular traffic along the stretch.
The move stemmed from a resolution passed by the board of the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) which sought the utilization of 351 sq. meters of Capitol-owned property along Gov. Cuenco Ave.
A copy of the Citom board resolution dated June 11 was sent to the governor’s office by Citom Executive Director Rafael Yap last July 18.
The PB is expected to refer Davide’s endorsement of the Citom resolution to the Committee on Provincial and Municipal Properties chaired by Board Member Grecilda “Gigi” Sanchez for initial evaluation.
Citom’s Yap said they’re proposing to put up “pocket lanes” beside the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation’s (Eruf) headquarters which occupies 160 sq. meters and another along the Ciudad development project which would entail the use of 191 sq.meters of province-owned land.
“Pocket lanes” will allow drivers to divert from the main traffic flow so they could unload passengers.
The provincial government owns a number of properties along Gov. Cuenco Ave. including the two areas specified by Citom.
The Citom Board, in its resolution, cited the indiscriminate loading and unloading of passengers “anywhere on the roadway” as one of the causes of congestion in the Banilad-Talamban corridor.
Aside from the Capitol, the Cebu City government is also negotiating with property owners in the area to allow the set back of their properties to give way for widening of the road.
As this developed, the regional office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) yesterday announced that they are ready to start the widening of the Banilad-Talamban road anytime.
Public Works regional director Ador Canlas said the owners of the pieces of land that would be affected by the project – the University of San Carlos Talamban Campus (USC-TC) and the Del Rosario family – have given them permission to enter the properties.
Canlas, together with Cebu City Rep. Raul del Mar yesterday made an ocular inspection on the proposed project site where the concrete fence of USC-TC was being torn down to allow the set back.
“We have money to spend on road widening. We just needed to get the approval of property owners so we can already start with the project,” Del Mar, who lobbied for a P150 million appropriation for the widening project, said.
The road widening project would cost P150 million of which P100 million is set aside for Road Right of Way (RROW) while the remaining P50 million is for civil works. The project was awarded to PB Obial Construction at a contract cost of P32.4 million.
The widening project would include the construction of 1.5 kilometer stretch of road from RD Pawnshop at the foot of the Ma. Luisa flyover to the Petron gasoline station at the intersection of the Cabancalan Road in Mandaue City.
The project will expand the four-lane Gov. Cuenco Ave. by 3.35 m22eters wide per lane or a total of 13.4 meters. The national highway only has an existing width of 12.9 meters.
Both sides of the widened roads will also have drainage components, gutters and concrete curves.
Nonito Paylado, head of the DPWH-7 planning division, said, that they would actually be needing a total of P72.6 million for RROW acquisition of which P59.5 million will be spent on lot acquisition while the remaining P13.1 million is for compensation of the improvements which property owners implemented on their properties.
Paylado said they would have to source the P22.6 million balance from the 2015 appropriation.
The road expansion project would affect 136 properties. A total of 63 are in barangay Banilad while 73 are in Talamban, while 157 telco posts would have to be moved back and 39 trees of various sizes and species are affected.
“What we do with the trees will depend on the DENR assessment. They will be the ones to tell us if the trees will have to be cut or earth balled,” Canlas said.
Canlas said they have written the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-7) to apply for a tree cutting permit.
The widening project started in February 2013 and was supposed to be completed on November 2013 but project completion date was moved to March 12, 2015 because of delays in RROW negotiations.
“We worked with congressman del Mar so that funds for the project will not be reverted back to the national government (at the end of 2013),” said Canlas in a project briefing at the DPWH regional office conference room yesterday morning.
He said that they filed expropriation cases against private lot owners during the last quarter of 2013 to make sure that the P150 million allocation will remain. Pending resolution of the cases, DPWH is required to deposit an amount equivalent to the cost of the zonal valuation of properties to be expropriated before the clerk of court.
“We do not intend to harass property owners but just to save the funds,” said Canlas.
The expropriation complaint against a property owner will also be withdrawn after they agree to issue a permit for DPWH to enter their property and implement the road expansion project, he added.
Rebecca Lagunzad-Husayan, production division head of the Metro Cebu Water District, asked
DPWH officials in yesterday morning’s meeting to spare two of their pumping stations near the USCTC from demolition.
The roadside pumps produce 9, 000 cubic meters of water per day that is supplied to Talamban and Nasipit water consumers.
“I hope you do not make us condemn it and find a way to save the pumps,” said Husayan.
Canlas directed Paylado to make an ocular inspection of the MCWD pumping stations and make his recommendations.
Paylado was also asked to look into the need to set back the fence of the Banilad Elementary School to give way to the road expansion project.