Villarete mulls creation of Tunnel Management Board

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Planning and Development Coordinator Nigel Paul Villarete has proposed the creation of a Tunnel Management Board to ensure the effective management of the subway section of the Cebu South Coastal Road project before its full opening to vehicular traffic.

Villarete said he will request the city council for the creation of the board so that the segment 3b-2 subway or the tunnel section will be properly managed.

The opening will be delayed anew for two to three months as there are still few but “very vital” aspects that need to be completed in order to ensure safe passageway for vehicles.

Villarete said that the tunnel management board will be tasked to formulate policies for management, operations and maintenance of the structure.

Its function will also include the preparation of a framework of operating procedures for the continued operation of the tunnel and preparation of a disaster management plan in case of emergencies and other untoward incidents inside and out of the tunnel.

“There is enough time to create for the management board before it opens in two to three months. The board shall compose of representatives of different departments of the City Hall, DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways, Veco (Visayan Electric Company) and MCWD (Metropolitan Cebu Water District),” Villarete said.

He said he will send his request tomorrow to the council.

The creation of the tunnel management board, he said, is not because they doubt the capability of DPWH, who owns the structure, but to maintain the tunnel.

“DPWH man gud is the infrastructure agency of the government. It acts mainly on the infrastructure development which includes construction and maintenance. But there are other aspects in how an infrastructure is being utilized and managed,” Villarete explained.

“There is environmental factor, there is a social factor, lighting, traffic and disaster management etc,” he added.

Villarete also explained that there will be a delay in the full opening of the tunnel to the public even if it is already 97 percent complete because of the lighting system, the pumping system and the control center of the Environmental Management and Control Office (EMCO).

“If people can notice during May 8 when it was opened to the public for 24 hours, the lights were 10 meters apart while theoretically, that should have been 2 meters apart. The contractor still needs to complete that,” he said.

“Thirdly, they have to complete the control center which houses the pump house. The tunnel security control center is a state-of-the-art monitoring system which automatically turns on the exhaust fans when the air quality inside the tunnel reaches a certain level,” he added.

The control center also automatically turns on the pumps when there is water inside the tunnel.

“Everything is electronically controlled. However there will be technical people who can manually operate in case the situation demands,” Villarete said.   (FREEMAN NEWS)