Wednesday, March 05, 2008 Flyover hurting firms in Banilad; sales lower
LACK of access to the Banilad Town Center (BTC) and the Gaisano Country Mall due to certain traffic measures imposed for the construction of a flyover has “reduced” the number of clients and hurt the business there.
The owners are asking the City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) board to allow vehicles to turn left to the mall and the commercial complex during off-peak hours, when traffic is light.
Cebu City Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem said the owners approached him recently and expressed their concerns.
Inconvenience
An indicator that was pointed out to him was the reduced number of vehicles that enter the two establishments.
Convinced after seeing it himself, Jakosalem said it is high time for Citom to also look for ways to minimize the inconvenience brought by the construction to commercial establishment owners and the pedestrians.
“We can’t just sit around after being successful in the traffic management aspect of the flyover construction and say ‘it’s not as bad as most expected because of the measures we implemented.’ We now have to review our traffic policies to be more flexible and ‘friendly’ to the business establishments, which are actually the most financially affected during the construction,” he said.
“Remember, this is half a year of pain for them; or maybe even more,” he added.
The 390-meter flyover, which spans Gov. Mariano Cuenco Ave. from across the BTC and beyond the A.S. Fortuna St. junction, is projected to be completed by the end of July at the soonest.
Construction started last Feb. 1.
Jakosalem said that Sonny Kokseng told him yesterday afternoon that based on their count of vehicles that enter the BTC, which they do every day, the number of customers with wheels going to the place was “down by 50 to 55 percent.”
Buildings
“And you don’t have to take my word for it. You can randomly ask any of our tenants. Many are down 70 percent of their sales. We’re all hurting real bad. And there are many other establishments that are,” Kokseng said in a text message to Jakosalem.
The businessman said other establishments, like TPE Building which has many retail and business tenants, in the Foodland area are also suffering.
Jakosalem said Kokseng asked that vehicles be allowed to turn left and cross towards the BTC when there are just a few vehicles.
He added that Alex Gaisano, on the other hand, has asked that vehicles on the north-bound lanes be allowed to turn left for Country Mall during non-peak hours.
Jakosalem said Gaisano approached him in his Y101 office overlooking the Country Mall parking lot and showed him the reduced number of parked vehicles.
He said he will present before the Citom board in its meeting today Kokseng and Gaisano’s concerns.
Construction
A WTG Construction and Development Corp. engineer is also scheduled to appear before the City Council today to update the councilors on the progress of the construction.
In a separate interview yesterday, Vice Mayor Michael Rama also pointed out the need for Citom to address the concerns of pedestrians.
City Councilor Hilario Davide III, head of the council adhoc committee formed to monitor traffic at the Banilad-Talamban area and the construction, last week mentioned the rampant violation of the city’s anti-jaywalking ordinance.
He said that instead of the skywalk by the Country Mall, people opted to cross the street.
“(The) Citom should do something about it,” he said. (RHM)
