CEBU Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia has urged the Public Works department to coordinate with the northern towns of Liloan and Consolacion to address traffic woes brought about by the unfinished Tayud-Consolacion-Liloan Road Project.
The governor met with the officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7, her daughter Liloan Mayor Christina Garcia-Frasco and Consolacion Vice Mayor Teresa Alegado on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019, to discuss the matter.
“I called for that meeting to thresh out immediately the concerns of lot owners and structure owners,” Garcia said in an interview on Friday, Nov. 15.
The Consolacion and Liloan roads were identified as diversion routes. These form part of the Cebu North Coastal Road, otherwise known as the Mandaue-Consolacion-Liloan Road Project.
The bypass road aims to provide easier access for motorists going in and out of Cebu City.
Road right-of-way issues
In 2010, the construction started. The project has dragged on for years because of the road right-of-way issues.
Lawyers Remfel Lor and Dean Martin Padoga of the DPWH 7 said they have been working on the expropriation of the adjacent lots for the road widening project.
Padoga said they encountered difficulties in preparing the documents for the filing of the expropriation complaint before the court in Liloan because the 38 affected households are still uncooperative.
Frasco said she has been following up on the project since her first term in 2016.
The mayor, though, lamented that her pleas have “fallen on deaf ears” because of the road right-of-way concerns.
“I refuse to accept that the new normal is to be stuck in traffic for at least an hour a day, if not two hours because of the inability to finish this road,” Frasco said.
Alegado, for her part, is hopeful that the completion of the project would be fast-tracked with Garcia’s intervention.
Garcia told the DPWH to coordinate with the local government units concerned and their respective assessor’s offices for help.
“Nobody was taking a serious look on it. This is the cause of the traffic problem. But if not for the governor’s intervention, I don’t think this project would move,” Alegado said in a mix of English and Cebuano. (RTF)