Cebu City north district Rep. Raul del Mar said the P146 million allocated for the construction of a flyover project in Banilad will not be used for the widening of the Banilad-Talamban highway.
Although Del Mar supported the recommendation to have the highway widened before the flyover would be constructed, he said the problem is that the government does not have funds for the road widening that he estimated to cost more than P1 billion.
There were suggestions that the budget for the flyover should be used to make the existing four-lane Banilad highway into a six-lane road to solve the traffic congestion in the area.
But Del Mar, a lawyer by profession, said the law prohibits the spending of government funds intended for the construction of a flyover on a road widening project.
He explained that his plan to solve the traffic congestion in Banilad-Talamban highway has four components and the construction of the flyover project is the first of them.
The next component is the widening of the road fronting the Gaisano Country Mall up to the corner of Cabancalan Road to Talamban, and the expanding of the Mahiga Bridge.
Del Mar said the third component is to widen the Hernan Cortes Avenue from barangay Canduman in Mandaue City to the corner of Sitio Panagdait in barangay Kasambagan, or to open for another road parallel to Gov. Mariano Cuenco Avenue.
Although Hernan Cortes Avenue is already outside his district, Del Mar said he could coordinate with the representative of the sixth district on the plan.
The last component of the plan to solve the traffic congestion along Banilad-Talamban highway is the opening of a new road from the city jail in barangay Apas to Banilad. But he said it would be a difficult project due to the lack of funds.
But he suggested that authorities should strictly enforce the laws on the proper way to drive to possibly minimize the traffic congestion along the Banilad-Talamban highway.
Primitivo Cal, one of the country’s experts in transportation industry, said the construction of the flyover in Banilad would not solve the problem unless the road will be widened to become a six-lane thoroughfare.
Cal also suggested that the flyover project should be four-lane to accommodate more traffic in the coming years.
But Del Mar said: “Naglisud man gani ta’g pangita’g pundo para sa two-way unsa pa kaha kon four lanes na.” — Rene U. Borromeo/LPM