10 mt. villages get new roads

NINE barangays, mostly from the mountain villages of Cebu City, are getting new roads. This after the City Government finally completed the implementation of some P27.7 million worth of road concreting projects.

Based on the records of City Hall, mountain barangays getting new and well-paved roads include Buhisan (P3.29 million), Toong (P3.2 million), Pamutan (P4.6 million, for two road concreting projects), and Kalunasan (P2.7 million), all for the south district.

For the north district, they include the barangays of Pit-os (P3 million), Binaliw (P3 million), Agsungot (P494,821), Guba (P3 million), and Sirao (P3.3 million).

Funds for the projects were taken from the P100-million road concreting budget that was appropriated for capital outlay under the City’s Department of Engineering and Public Works. It forms part of the P5.2-billion budget of the City for this year.

Priorities

The mountain barangays’ main roads and secondary roads were prioritized in the road-concreting project.

The nine barangays were among the 31 barangays identified by the City Council in the list of priorities for road concreting.

Other barangays include Babag, Bonbon, Buot Taup, Pung-ol Sibugay, Sinsin, Sudlon I, Sudlon II, Tabunan, and Tagba-o for the southern barangays.

In the north, the barangays are Adlaon, Agsungot, Bacayan, Budlaan, Busay, Cambinocot, Lusaran, Mabini, Malubog, Paril, Pulangbato, San Jose, and Taptap.

It was the council that identified the priority areas for the road concreting project to prevent a repeat of the incident last year, where the budget intended for the asphalting of the mountain barangays was realigned for the asphalting of the North Reclamation Area.

Turn over

Mayor Michael Rama is scheduled to turn over the completed road concreting projects to the barangays today.

Meanwhile, Cebu City Councilor Joey Daluz wants the City Government to avail itself of a loan to implement the projects included in Supplemental Budget (SB) 5 in 2010.

The City Government has yet to implement some P80 million worth of projects, which were included in the P1.3-billion SB5, due to lack of funds.

These include a seawall from the boundary of Inayawan to Cogon-Pardo, which has an approved budget of P29.9 million, and new school buildings in the elementary schools in Pardo, Guadalupe and Mambaling amounting to P35.9 million.

The concrete stairs at Gothong High School, the drainage system at the San Nicolas Elementary School and the repair of Pulangbato Elementary School’s perimeter fence with a combined cost of P5.6 million are also affected.

Arcs

Entrance arcs in the city’s 80 barangays, with an approved budget of P4.8 million, have yet to be built, and the requested garbage bins for the Department of Public Services have yet to bought.

One of the fund sources in SB5 is proceeds from borrowing, but the City Government has yet to avail itself of a loan.

The City Council, in its approved resolution and ordinance, authorized the executive department to borrow additional funds amounting to P382 million.

Daluz said they should take out the loan to implement the projects because they already have the council’s approval.

He said the executive department is now bound to look for funds in order to comply with the ordinance approved by the legislative body.

The councilor said he will ask Mayor Michael Rama to take out a loan because it was clearly stated in the ordinance that it can be availed of.

Daluz disclosed he is ready to submit the terms and conditions to the City Council for approval if the mayor decides to borrow additional funds.

Rama, however, earlier said he doesn’t want to borrow as long as the City can avoid it.

It was learned that aside from the 12.315 yen loan for the South Road Properties, the City has no other loan obligations to pay.