APEC committee assessing roads for Cebu host venues
The local organizing committee for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings to be held in Cebu this year started assessing the road networks in the province that will be used by delegates.
The revew started last week.
Provincial Tourism Officer Mary Grace Paulino said the local team is making sure that ongoing road improvements will be finished in time for the meetings starting in August.
“We are looking at the roads leading tothe venues,” she told reporters yesterday.
The major venues will be Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City, Radisson Blu Hotel; Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino; Marco Polo Plaza and the Grand Convention Center in Cebu City.
The Sergio Osmeña road, one of several routes leading to Radisson Blu hotel, is undergoing rehabilitation.
No update
Last Monday, Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III called a meeting with stakeholders involved in the preparations for the meetings.
The stakeholders include the Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC), Cebu Association of Tour Operators (CATO), the city governments of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH-7), Police Regional Office (PRO-7) and the different Chambers of Commerce.
Representatives of the regional office of DPWH and their 6th district engineering office also attended the meeting.
Paulino said a representative from the 6th engineering district, speaking in behalf of Lapu-Lapu City, said repairs on their roads leading to Shangri-La will be completed in time for the APEC meetings.
She said there were no representatives from the DPWH office in Cebu City so no updates were given about the status of roads within the area.
Access
Paulino said Gov. Davide called on the DPWH-7 to fast-track work on roads in time for the meetings.
During the meeting, the stakeholders also agreed to create different committees to address specific preparation concerns for the event.
Paulino said that they identified six major committees, namely: security, media affairs, conference services, utilities, road networks and operations.
The committee on road networks, in charge of monitoring all road access to venues, will be headed by DPWH-7 Regional Director Ador Canlas.
Paulino will head the committee on conference services while Provincial Information Officer Ethel Natera will take charge of the committee on media affairs.
Point person
The security committee will be headed by Supt. Prudencio Tom Bañas, Police Regional Office chief and operations will be headed by lawyer Mark Abing, asst. provincial administrator.
The local organizing team has yet to come up with a point person for the committee on utilities, which is tasked to ensure that no power interruptions or water shortage will happen during the dates of the event.
Cebu will host the third Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) from Aug. 24 to Sept. 6.
The Finance Ministerial Meeting will be held on Sept. 10 to 11, the Transportation Ministerial Meeting will be from Oct. 8 to 11, while the Energy Ministerial meeting will be from Oct. 12 to 14.
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