S. Osmeña concreting face minor glitches

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama briefly manned the traffic outside Pier 4 and directed the vehicles to specific lanes as the city government closed a portion of the Sergio Osmeña Boulevard starting yesterday to give way to the road concreting project.

Rama said that in the intersection outside Pier 4, trucks and other huge vehicles shall pass through the bigger lane in crossing the road.

He said he will have the Department of Public Works and Highways-7 and the WT Construction, which are undertaking the project, to cut a portion of the gutter in the area to avoid vehicular accidents.

Rama has also directed the City Integrated Traffic Operations Management (CITOM) to immediately put a signage for the truck drivers and motorists to follow the rerouting.

“Kung magpadayon sila og agi didto sa naa’y gutter, apiki inig liko nila, which is delikado na maaksidente kay naa unya’y masaghiran. So we have to prevent this as the project is ongoing,” Rama said.

The road concreting project will cover the 2.5-kilometer stretch of S. Osmeña Boulevard. While the portion of the road is closed, trucks and other vehicles have to pass through E.S. Baclig Street, the main access road of vehicles from the north and south of Cebu.

Lawyer Rafel Yap, executive director of CITOM, said he was scheduled to meet with the Cebu Ports Authority and court judges who are temporarily transferred at the Qimonda I.T. Center Building to get feedbacks from them on the first day of the road work.

Yap said they have signed a memorandum of understanding between the stakeholders after discussing the possible impact to traffic of the five-month long project.

Rama, Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, CITOM, DPWH, businessmen and the rest of the stakeholders also held a walk through at the area last week to check its actual situation before the project started.

The P289-million worth road work includes removal of existing asphalt pavement and its replacement with concrete pavement.

The concreting, which will be done by DPWH by phase, will cover the stretch from the bridge (near Cebu International Port) that connects Cebu City to Mandaue City until Palma Street, near the subway. — (FREEMAN)