Saturday, February 09, 2008 Talks with owner of road as access to Ban-Tal ongoing
WITH the Banilad flyover contractor breaking one sidewalk to give way to a digging yesterday, another private road is being eyed as a parallel street for motorists to use in the first two to three months of the project.
Cebu City Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem said negotiations are underway for a subdivision near the Gaisano Country Mall to open its gates and have motorists use its road.
He said mall owners, concerned that customers will have difficult time going into the establishment, are the ones who are bargaining with the subdivision’s Korean owner.
If the Korean approves, southbound road users could pass halfway through the construction area, turn right through a spa establishment and exit by the mall.
From there, they could proceed to Barangay Apas, pass through the Central Command, which agreed to open its gates, or through the Asiatown IT Park.
Jakosalem said that for the next two to three months, motorists could use the road since construction would not have reached yet the area where it connects with Gov. Mariano Cuenco Ave.
Construction
Construction of the flyover is intended to provide a non-stop north-bound and south-bound traffic flow at the A.S. Fortuna intersection.
Yesterday, WTG Construction and Development Corp. started breaking the ground of the construction site’s south-bound sidewalk.
Jakosalem said the contractor complained of difficulty in working on the sidewalk because the adjacent lots were not yet purchased by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7, which is the implementing agency.
The City Council last week asked if the DPWH could still postpone the construction until such time that the 21 commercial lots are purchased, and the road widened first.
As a result of the work on the sidewalk, pedestrians were directed to use the sidewalk on the other side of the road.
Also, Jakosalem said the City will just have to be the one to allocate an amount for the overtime pay of traffic enforcers working to help ease as much as possible traffic at the Banilad-Talamban area.
This, after WTG said it only received P500,000 and not P1.5 million as the DPWH earlier said it paid to the contractor for traffic management, which include setting up several signage.
He said he will ask for a copy of the contract between the DPWH and WTG to check if it is true that the contractor only got P500,000 for traffic management.
“It is a matter for clarification. We do not want to see what is really inside the contract, but only on the aspect of traffic management,” the councilor said.
The 390-meter flyover is projected to be finished in six months yet, which means motorists will have to bear with the resulting heavy traffic until the end of July this year.
Instead of today, WTG will start excavation works only next week and will start closing two of the road’s four lanes, leaving just a lane for each direction. (RHM)
