Cebu first district candidates during the first 2016 Mega Cebu Forum yesterday talk about how to sustain the growth of Metro Cebu amid the growing traffic problems. (From left) Mr. Eddie Gullas, Talisay City Mayor JVR de los Reyes; Nicepuro Apura of Carcar City and congressional candidate Mike Nuñez (PDP-Laban). (CDN PHOTO/CHRISTIAN MANINGO)
Talisay City is notorious for its traffic problems and local candidates of that third income class component city in the province of Cebu agree that something ought to be done about it.
In a candidates forum held yesterday, Eduardo Gullas (Alayon), who is taking another shot at the mayoralty race against incumbent Talisay City Mayor Johnny delos Reyes (LP), suggested the revival of the Metro Cebu Comprehensive Land Use and Transport Study (MCLUTS) to manage traffic within the metropolitan area.
MCLUTS is a land use and transportation masterplan completed in 1981 which was the basis for several infrastructure projects in Cebu including the Mandaue Reclamation Project, South Reclamation Project, the South Bus Terminal and the installation of the modern traffic system at the junction of Osmeña Blvd. and P. Del Rosario St.
The study also proposed the widening to six lanes of Governor Cuenco Avenue in Cebu City. To help decongest traffic in southern Cebu, MCLUTS proposed a Light Rail Transit and a Bus Rapid Transit system from Talisay City to the Mactan Cebu International Airport.
“My experience with the MCLUTS was very good. If we have MCLUTS-2, it will be very helpful,” said Gullas, a former congressman of Cebu’s first district and governor of Cebu, as many plans under MCLUTS have remained unimplemented.
“Traffic in Cebu can be compared to Manila already,” he further told reporters at the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc- Eduardo Aboitiz Development Studies Center (RAFI-EADSC) in a forum dubbed Mega Decisions 2016 where the candidates were asked to present their platforms and suggestions on how to avoid the derailment of Cebu’s economic growth due to the lack of urban planning.
Gullas also suggested the possibility of deploying fast crafts to reduce vehicular traffic along the southern and northern highways.
Mayor De los Reyes, for his part, said he intends to open more diversion roads toward Western Cebu to reduce traffic in Talisay City all the way to the town of Minglanilla.
“I will also improve the location of the public market in Barangay Tabunok to reduce traffic in the area,” delos Reyes said amid complaints from motorists and commuters that the traffic situation in that area has become very heavy since the reopening of the old Tabunok public market.
Aside from Gullas and delos Reyes, also present during the forum were reelectionist Carcar City Mayor Nicepuro Apura (Alayon) and congressional candidate Mike Nuñez (PDP-Laban).
All first district candidates were sent invitations by RAFI but only Gullas, delos Reyes, Apura and Nuñez attended the forum.
During the first quarter meeting of the Mega Cebu Development and Coordinating Board (MCDCB) last March, a list of projects to be funded by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in 2017 was approved for recommendation to the Regional Development Council (RDC).
The list includes a P150-million feasibility study for a master plan similar to MCLUTS that will help solve the worsening traffic situation in metropolitan areas.
MCLUTS was a grant given by the governments of Australia and Japan in the ’70s which was supposed to be implemented from 1980 to 2000.
Twenty-five road-widening projects identified under the study covering the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, and Talisay were completed.
The new plan being sought will help identify other Metro Cebu areas that need road widening, bypass roads, road right-of-way acquisitions and the improvement of intersections.
The Mega Decisions 2016 Forum held yesterday was the first of a series of candidate discussions which will serve as an avenue for local candidates to present their platforms and insights.
The series will culminate on April 20, with the candidates for governor and vice governor as guests.