CITY Councilors, during the budget deliberations last week, grilled officials of the Roads and Traffic Administration (RTA) after they failed to present the city's traffic management plan which they vowed to complete during the 2018 budget deliberations.
City Councilor Edna Dahino, the presiding officer of the budget deliberations, said the P100, 926,792 million proposed budget of the RTA is deferred at the moment as they wait for the traffic plan.
"We will see if what they stipulated in their proposal are indeed necessary or whether it needs to be slashed," Dahino said.
She added that before approving their proposed budget, the committee of the whole will have to see the traffic plan and check their plans, execution, and strategies to help ease the city's traffic problem.
Councilor Teodulfo Lao Jr., meanwhile, lambasted the RTA for still not completing the plan in the past two years.
"Personal services ra gyud ma-approve, maintenance and operating services will have to wait until maka himo sila sa traffic management plan (The personal services will only be approved while the maintenance and operating services will have to wait until they can make a traffic management plan)," Lao said.
Lao said RTA's 2019 budget has slightly increase to fund more projects of the finance department, such as maintaining the pedestrian lane, putting up more traffic signage, and buy speed guns to implement the speed limit.
"Enforcement raman sila naka-focus, but number 1 gyud dapat ang planning (They only focus on the enforcement but number one should be the planning) that's why the RTA almost always apply band-aid solutions. If there is a comprehensive plan, there will be concrete solutions," Lao said.
Lao said considering the traffic plan is not an overnight work, adding the city councilors instead should be given rationale of the plan or an overview to convince them to approve the budget. Otherwise, their budget will have to be slashed.
Lao, however, said he is confident that the traffic plan will finally be realized in 2019 with the reactivation of the Traffic Management Board.