THE Cebu City Council’s committee on budget and finance will start deliberating on the proposed P8.1-billion annual budget of the City Government for 2019.
Under the budget, P306.2 million is allocated for bus operation services, a project Mayor Tomas Osmeña promised students in mountain barangays.
Some P232 million will be for the purchase of 40 new buses, P26.4 million for their fuel and oil and P6.6 million for the salary of drivers.
The City also set aside P20 million to renovate the City Condominium, which was earlier declared unsafe, P10 million for its operation and P11.2 million for the meal allowance of students from mountain barangays.
In a Facebook post, Osmeña showed a copy of the project study for the bus system in the mountain barangays, which is currently being undertaken.
As proposed, it will have four routes.
The first route will be from Barangay Sudlon II to Sudlon I to Sinsin to Buot to Bonbon and to Babag. The second route will be from Barangay Tabunan to Tagbao to Adlaon Taptap to Pung-ol Sibugay to Malubog and to Busay.
The third route will be from Barangay Guba to Sirao to Cambinocot to Agsungot to Pung-ol Sibugay to Malubog and to Busay. The fourth route will be from Barangay Lusaran to Paril to Mabini to Binaliw and to Pit-os.
The project study suggests conducting a dry run next month.
The project team will also coordinate with the Sangguniang Kabataan to help determine the beneficiaries of the project.
The proposed P8.1-billion budget for next year is higher than the current budget, which is P6.2 billion.
The biggest chunk of next year’s budget, or around P3.2 billion, will go to mandatory expenses.
A four-day budget hearing, which will start on Nov. 7, will be conducted by the committee on budget and finance.