Up to Pnoy to approve local non-working days to ease APEC traffic
Local organizers suggest declaring non-working holidays on key dates of APEC meetings in Cebu on September to decongest traffic.
This option was favored over adopting a color-coding or number-coding system for vehicles.
“The objective is to provide a condition very close to Saturdays and Sundays (when streets are almost empty),” Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7 director Arnel Tancinco said during the organizers’ meeting at the Cebu provincial capitol yesterday.
Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, who chairs the local organizing committee for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings, said he hoped to finalize holiday dates next week. It would need approval of the Office of the President, he said.
TENTATIVE DATE
Most of the expected 3,200 delegates will be in Cebu on Sept. 4 for opening ceremonies of the Third Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM3), said Lito Maderazo, over-all coordinator of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) local organizing committee.
Cebu will host the SOM3 and related meetings from Aug. 22 to Sept. 6. Two ministerial meetings will also be held here in September – the Structural Reform Ministerial Meeting (SRMM) on Sept. 7-8 and the Finance Ministerial Meeting (FMM) on Sept. 10-11.
Cebu City traffic management czar Rafael Yap agreed that a holiday declaration would greatly help ease congestion, especially on the roads between the different meeting venues in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.
The meetings will be held at the Marco Polo Plaza Cebu, Cebu City Marriott Hotel, Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino, Radisson Blu Cebu, and Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa.
“But with or without (a holiday declaration), we are confident that we can handle APEC,” Yap said.
He said they were 90-percent ready for APEC.
“All we need to do is firm up our schedules so we can adjust our personnel deployment, traffic management scheme, and dry run,” Yap added.
TRAFFIC PLAN
LTO’s Tancinco, who heads the sub-task unit on traffic management, said he will submit a traffic management plan next week with the recommendation for a holiday.
The plan will be based on input of host cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.
So far, only Cebu City and Mandaue City have completed their plans. Lapu-Lapu has yet to submit theirs, Tancinco said.
His committee identified ceremonial and alternate routes but did not discount rerouting or road closures at certain times of the day. Tancinco said ceremonial routes will only be occupied by APEC delegates while alternate routes will be for displaced vehicles.
“We are looking at two schemes here. One is to provide an unobstructed and secure path for our delegates and, two, to provide another way for those that will be displaced from the ceremonial route,” he said.
“We understand that the local government may find it hard to conduct rerouting or detours. That is why we are trying to be careful and sensitive in identifying the areas,” he added.
REROUTING
Tancinco said there was still a “big possibility” rerouting or road closures will be implemented at certain times of the day.
“ It is just like any other special activity. We close the road to other vehicles when delegates are passing and open it again when they’ve already passed,” he said.
Governor Davide, in a press conference, said he would not recommend number-coding of vehicles, an idea floated earlier this month.
“I would not recommend it. It’s going to be more chaotic. It will only cause confusion. For me, the suggestion to declare a holiday is more apt,” the governor said.
Only one regular holiday, National Heroes’ Day on Aug. 31, will fall within the APEC meeting dates in Cebu.
There are no regular holidays in September.
The government has declared Nov. 18 and 19 as non-working holidays in the National Capital Region, where the APEC Leaders’ Summit will be held.
PLARIDEL
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) promised to make Plaridel Street in Mandaue City passable by Aug. 14, about a week before the APEC meetings start.
Engr. Renault Ricardo, assistant district engineer of DPWH 6th Engineering District Office, said the drainage project will be completed on Aug. 7.
Work on the remaining 330 meters started yesterday, with a target of completing 30 meters a day.
“We will be able to complete that in 11 days on Aug. 7. We can open that on Aug. 14, a Friday,” he said after a curing period for concrete of at least sevendays.
Two lanes will be ready for the Ironman70.3 bicycle race on Aug. 2, Sunday.
Plaridel Street will be closed from 4 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the triathlon that day.
“We will be ready as what we had committed. We are working overtime,” Ricardo said.
Glenn Antigua, acting chief of the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM), earlier said M.C. Briones St. will serve as an alternate road for vehicles bound for Cebu City. /With Correspondent Melissa Q. Cabahug
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