Committee ok's proposed ban against piling building materials on the road

The city council's committee on laws has endorsed the approval of an ordinance penalizing building contractors that will unload construction materials on roads and cause traffic problems in that area.

The committee, chaired by councilor Edgardo Labella, said the proposed ordinance of councilor Raul Alcoseba is anchored on section 458 of the Local Government Code that pushes means for a smooth flow of traffic.

Cebu City, as a growing metropolis, has a number of construction works for hotels, schools and commercial buildings in various places but these also contributed to traffic problems where the construction is undertaken.

The measure's proponent observed that some building contractors just allowed their workers to unload equipment and stockpile construction materials along the road beside the site, thus causing inconvenience to passing motorists.

There was a case when the traffic authorities got mired in a traffic problem at corner Leon Kilat and P. del Rosario Streets where the contractor of the building, owned by a city councilor, stockpiled construction materials right on the road.

The incidence prompted officials of the City Traffic Operations Management to submit a resolution asking the city council for the enactment of an ordinance to address such problem.

The subsequent Alcoseba proposal thus provide that building contractors will be allowed to unload construction materials on the roadsides starting 10pm only but have to clear the road from these items before dawn.

Labella's report on the proposed measure added that a public hearing be done also to gather opinions especially from those who might be affected by it. - Rene U. Borromeo