Thursday, January 31, 2008 Wenceslao: Galling incompetence By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
BEING a journalist has helped me become a better writer mainly because of the increased output. I thank deadlines for that. Without the deadlines constantly prodding me to finish an article, I doubt if I could have sharpened my writing style. Without deadlines, I loosen up and constantly move the completion of articles for another day.
I don’t think, however, that deadline beating is good for governance. Just note the mess that the Cebu City Government and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will be making in Banilad when work on the controversial flyover along Gov. Cuenco Ave. starts tomorrow. Traffic preparations were rushed as work time neared.
Work on the flyover was supposed to start last year after debate on whether the structure will help ease the traffic problem in the Banilad-Talamban area was settled in favor of its construction. Ban-Tal businessmen’s protest against the flyover did not work because they were up against Mayor Tomas Osmeña, who was strongly for the project.
But the start of the construction was put off for February after DPWH gave in to the request of stakeholders and Rep. Raul del Mar that this be postponed so businessmen can take advantage of the Christmas and Sinulog windfall. That means the City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) had at least three months to work on a traffic plan.
DPWH 7 officials, too, had all the time in the world to put up signages and improve roads targeted as alternative routes to ease traffic flow in the corner of Gov. Cuenco Ave. and A.S. Fortuna St., the construction site. Stakeholders and officials of barangays Banilad and Talamban, meanwhile, fell silent and largely forgot the flyover.
Maybe people were lost in the Christmas celebration or were too focused on the Sinulog festivities that nobody worried about what will happen once construction of the Banilad flyover starts. By the time they, specifically City Hall and Citom, acted up the preparations already partook of a race against time, which was a recipe for failure.
Citom’s dry run on the odd-even scheme was done on Monday and Tuesday when flyover work will already start on Friday. Thus, when flaws of the plan presented itself and a traffic gridlock was created by the experiment, Citom panicked. I could only shake my head when in the end it decided to hitch the fate of Ban-Tal commuters to the stars.
The incompetence not only of Citom but of all officials concerned is galling.
