Underground cabling pilot operations not possible in time for Palaro but…

Vehicles passing through downtown Cebu City. CDN FILE PHOTO/Niña Mae Oliverio

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The operations for underground cabling in Cebu City cannot be started before the Palarong Pambansa 2024.

However, Councilor Jerry Guardo said that they hoped it would start this year.

The removal operations for the spaghetti or unnecessary wires were already in place.

Guardo, who chairs the council’s Committee on Infrastructure, said that this removal was only for a short term goal.

The long term was to build underground connections similar to that of other countries where electrical and telecommunication wires would be buried underground.

According to news reports in February, Guardo said the start of the underground wiring was aimed in May this year.

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Not possible in time for Palaro

However, with the tight schedule of time, Guardo said that it would not be possible especially since the Palaro was just a few weeks away already.

Guardo said that he already talked with the supplier (of the underground electric cable) and they initially aimed the pilot operations along Jones Avenue (now Osmeña Boulevard) so that during the Palaro, “all wires will be underground.”

“Pero tan-aw nako apiki pa man. So we’re just waiting for their final proposal na lang for the joint venture… for the private-public partnership… Apiki naman kaayo sa Palaro so we’ll just na lang for their proposal for the underground installations covering 91 kilometers of Cebu City major thoroughfares,” he said.

(But the way I look at it, it is really difficult. So we’re just waiting for their final proposal for the joint venture…for the private-public partnership…it is going to be really difficult with Palaro so we’ll just wait for their proposal for the underground installations covering 91 kilometers of Cebu City major thoroughfares.)

Hopeful to start on…

Guardo said in a phone interview that they were expecting to receive the proposal this month, and the latest would be next month because the firm was finalizing their financial, legal, and technical runs.

“E-incorporate na lang na nila tanan and then to be signed and approved by their president, i-submit na nila diri sa Cebu City, and once madawat na namo, the mayor will convene the joint venture selection committee para i-review ang ilang proposal,” Guardo said.

(They will incorporate all of it and then to be signed and approved by their president, they will then submit it here in Cebu City, and once we receive them, the mayor will convene the joint venture selection committee so that we can review their proposal.)

He said that the supplier (of the underground electric cable) could start the operations before the year ends so they could lay down their plans for the underground operations.

Guardo clarified that the underground project would only cover the major thoroughfares, not including in the “interior” parts of the city like in barangays and sitios.

Setting the standard

Moreover, he said that together with the TIC, they already set a “standard” for the telecommunications company.

“Based on my proposed ordinance which was approved by the council, we have to increase the [height] of mga poste, pole. Ila nang patas-an, in order to attain the minimum height requirement of 18 feet,” Guardo said.

He added that they observed that there are many “low-lying wires” in the “interior parts” of the community because the posts installed were already short in height.

Guardo said that that could be the reason why the emergency responders would find it difficult to “penetrate” sometimes during disasters.

“Sa ilahang pag-respond, ma sangit-sangit sila mga wire, so we have to do it on parallel. That’s our focus sa TIC, once the supplier will commence ang ilahang underground installation covering the major thoroughfares,” Guardo added.

(In the time that we would respond we would be hampered by these wires, so we have to do it on parallel. That our focus of the TIC, once the supplier will commence their underground installation covering the major thoroughfares.)

The Visayan Electric Company (VECO) had already started building underground connections along Osmeña Boulevard, P. Del Rosario, and along the roads in Barangays Day-as and Carreta.

Some locations in the Philippines have already implemented underground cabling, such as in C.M Recto Street in Davao City, while other cities, such as Bacolod and Iloilo, are eyeing to use the method to improve the aesthetics of their landscapes for tourism. | with a report from Adrian Parungao, Inquirer.net