Mega Cebu: Will this be the future of Cebu

September has been dubbed Mega Cebu Month. Mega Cebu is a project of the Cebu Business Club with the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Yokohama, which aims to enjoin Cebuanos towards a shared future. Unfortunately, we have left the growth of Cebu solely into the hands of our politicians, who usually put their self-interest ahead of the interest of Metro Cebu.

As we all know, Metro Cebu has grown so fast and if you looked at photos of Metro Cebu 30 years ago and took photos of Metro Cebu today, you'd probably not recognize it. Yet this fantastic growth has its limitations and drawbacks. We still have the same roads 30 years ago, except for the road at the South Road Properties (SRP) and the Mandaue Reclamation Road. Therefore we must plan things properly in order to make Cebu a livable city not just for Cebuanos but also for our foreign guests. This means Metro Cebu must compete not just with the other urban centers within the Philippine archipelago but with our ASEAN neighbors as well.

The planning for Mega Cebu is the task of the Metro Cebu Development Coordinating Board (MCDCB) and they certainly can't do it without your cooperation and your help. So on September 2nd Monday, there will be a Mega Cebu lunch at the J Center Convention Center. Registration starts at 11:00AM and lunch fee is P500. Our Rotary Club of Cebu (Mother) will be joining this activity with the other Rotary Clubs here in Cebu so we'll get an idea of where Cebu is headed for the future. Just imagine if those roads were not widened at that time; traffic would be at a standstill today.

Mind you, planning for Cebu isn't an easy task. I should know -- I was a member of the Metro Cebu Development Project (MCDP) that widened the major thoroughfares in Cebu City and Mandaue like the AS Fortuna St., the V. Rama St., M. Velez St. all the way to Banawa, B. Rodriquez St. and the road that links North and South Cebu via the Imus New Road.

Unfortunately after those road projects, MCDP closed shop because JICA officials fumed that Cebuanos were the major stumbling block to the widening of the roads. They belatedly realized that the majority of the funds that JICA gave were only to pay for owners of the land in order to widen the road. They are right you know.

You should know that JICA officials are answerable to their government and the Japanese people being a patriotic people felt that the needs of the city should give way to their personal needs. The Japanese believe that when a road is widened, the lot owners benefit from the widening even if part of their land is taken for the widening. Mind you, this is not the official stand of JICA, it was just the sentiment of a JICA official who told me this.  

If there is something urgent for the MCDCB has to do, it is to make a decision on how to speed up and finish the widening of M. Velez St. beside the Provincial Capitol where work on the project seems to have stopped. This project already began in 2004, yet it is so short we just can't understand why work cannot continue there. This is similar to the widening of Escario St. between Gorordo Ave. and Arch. Reyes Ave. that took 10 long years to widen. I tell you, we do not have the luxury of time to wait for lot owners to be paid, because Cebu has to grow whether they like it or not!

At this point, we need to identify choke points not just for traffic furniture management, but also to plan for the future. We know that the old Mehitable plant in Lahug has been sold to a developer. That means JY Square, which is already congested would suffer a worse traffic congestion if the developer were allowed to construct in that area. But I know that there are potential road connections that could be tapped so that the residents that need to go to Cebu City do not have to pass through JY Square and that road link in through Beverly Hills where you can link it up with a bridge.

Another unused major road is the road to Camp Lapu-Lapu. If only MCDCB sat down with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and asked them to move their main gates along the sides. This is one road that can easily link up to the already congested Banilad Road. But the question is, who will talk with the AFP?

Finally I would like the MCDCB to task the DPWH to widen Gorordo Ave. all the way to JY Square. As we've pointed out in many articles before, when you are passing by the University of the Philippines (Lahug) Campus, it is so wide with the proper sidewalks. But as you pass the Lahug Elementary School, the road suddenly narrows into a slim four-lane road. Mind you, this is a national road and it is high time that the DPWH correct the width of this road and if the people have encroached on the road side, then they should be remove in order restore the proper road width.

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