Mayor appeals for patience on drainage projects

BACOLOD City Mayor Evelio Leonardia appealed to all motorists to have more patience on the construction of drainage projects from Lacson to Mandalagan Bridge.

Leonardia said there are still people complaining about the traffic situation in Lacson Street because of the drainage construction.

“Please consider that we have a drainage construction in Lacson Street. It’s natural that there will be a traffic. We are sorry for the inconvenience, but we have to do this to address the flood problem here,” he said.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) earlier said that the construction of the drainage projects from Lacson to Mandalagan Bridge is now 85 percent completed.

Bacolod District Engineer Abraham Villareal said the Supreme ABF Contractor promised that by the end of July, they will already be finished with the drainage construction, especially at Lacson Street.

He said the contractor's deadline is in October, but in order to address the traffic problem in the area, they are working double time to complete the project early.

Leonardia said he is thankful to the DPWH and Congressman Greg Gasataya for facilitating these projects to solve the flood problem.

“I appeal for discipline and orderliness in the streets and maybe more efforts from the traffic enforcement unit to ease the traffic situation in the area,” he said.

He added the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) also agreed to send its expert team here to study the traffic situation.

The mayor earlier said Bacolod has a total of 92,849 motor vehicles registration.

Leonardia said Land Transportation Office (LTO)-Western Visayas Director Roland Ramos confirmed the figure of the motor vehicles registered in Bacolod.

He said Negros Occidental has a total of 179,000 registered motor vehicles. Of the number, 92,849 motor vehicles are from Bacolod. In 2016 and 2017, a total of 7,827 new cars were registered in Bacolod.

“That record alone should tell us that we have a traffic problem, this is not to justify, but this is the reality. Show me a major city in the Philippines without a traffic problem. There are also certain times that that traffic authority will stop the traffic lights and will handle this manually because of the volume of traffic,” he added.

The mayor also ordered the electrical department to put spotlight at the junction of the road to ensure the safety of the traffic enforcers.

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph