No traffic plan until roads are finished, Citom say

Cebu City has yet to finalize a traffic plan to deal with the influx of delegates expected to attend the series of high-level Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting starting August.

“I can’t give a full-blown plan until the road situation is normalized,” Rafael Yap, Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) chief, told Cebu Daily News in a telephone interview yesterday.
Two of the APEC meeting venues, Marco Polo Plaza and Radisson Blu Hotel, are located in Cebu City. Other participating host cities are Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.
Yap mentioned the ongoing concreting works along S. Osmeña Road, one of the major roads leading to Radisson Blu Hotel.
He also cited ongoing works along the Cebu North Road (Mandaue side) and AS Fortuna street, though these are no longer part of Cebu City.
Hosting details
“We can’t plan within a vacuum. We will finalize the plan once everything normalizes and we’ve completed our other preparations,” said Yap, who heads the APEC 2015 subcommittee on traffic.
Cebu will host the third Senior Officials’ Meeting from Aug. 24 to September 6 to be held at Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa.
During this period, at least 3,200 delegates are expected to visit Cebu for several meetings. More meetings will be held in Cebu until October 14.
Yap said 300 Citom personnel will be deployed to manage traffic during the APEC dates.
Last Thursday, the APEC 2015 National Organizing Council met with the local organizing committee to discuss specific hosting details, policies and directives.
Suspended
One of the issues raised in the consultation was the traffic problem along the APEC route.
As a remedy, it was decided that all roadworks will be suspended starting June.
The regional office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH-7) issued a memorandum to all public utility companies to halt all excavation projects starting next month.
All agency projects on roads along the route will be suspended starting July 15.

Yap said an internal follow-up meeting was held at the Cebu City Hall yesterday.
Provincial information officer Ethel Natera said Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III wants the participating cities to be represented in all APEC 2015 local committees.
Hosting dynamics
“We want to ensure each city’s role and participation because we acknowledge their roles,” she said.
Natera said the city mayors will appoint one representative each to the committees on conference management, media, operations, utilities and road network.
She said a team from the Capitol will fly to Boracay next week to observe the hosting dynamics of the locality during the second Senior Officials’ Meeting that will be held there.
Last week, the same team also went to the island to check on pre-event preparations.
“After our trip, we will meet with our respective committees to discuss our participation,” Natera said.
Marciano Paynor Jr., director general of the APEC 2015 National Organizing Committee, said after the meeting at the Capitol last Thursday that he thinks Cebu is already 80 percent prepared to host the summit.
He said Cebu has everything it needs to host the meetings with only a few adjustments needed.