THE Cebu City Council has renewed its call for utility firms to get rid of dangling “spaghetti wires” along roads.
Councilor Antonio Cuenco delivered a privilege speech on the matter last Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020.
“I am alarmed that several electric posts with matching dangling spaghetti wires are hanging all over our city. Clearly, this is an imminent danger to public safety, an accident just waiting to happen,” said Cuenco.
The official wants to know why utility firms in the city still failed to comply with a local law requiring them to place underground all utility lines to address the problem.
City Ordinance (CO) 1894 approved on April 25, 2001 requires all public utilities to transfer their overhead utility cables underground. It was penned by Councilor Nestor Archival.
CO 1894 provides for the medium-term objective of implementation of the underground installation of utility lines five years after the approval of the law. The long-term objective is the mandatory grounding of all utility lines within 10 years after approval of the ordinance.
The same ordinance penalizes the president and/or general manager of the company that violates its provisions. The year 2012 marked the 10th year of the local law.
Spaghetti wires along roads, though, remain an “eyesore” nearly two decades since the passage of the legislation.
Archival said because utility firms failed to comply, former mayor Tomas Osmeña introduced a color-coding scheme instead to address the problem of unsightly, dangling wires.
The scheme was established as a temporary solution, which allowed utility firms to fix tangled wires immediately since the cables’ colored tags made it easier for them to identify.
In 2013, the Visayan Electric started works to transfer its overhead wires underground.
Phase 1A of the project, which covers the 650-meter stretch of the Capitol-Fuente Osmeña Circle corridor, was completed in 2015.
Phase 1B along Osmeña Blvd. and P. del Rosario St., on the other hand, was completed in 2017. Phase 2 of the project (corner P. del Rosario St. and Osmeña Blvd.) was completed in 2016.
The project’s fifth phase includes the 500-meter stretch from Gen. Maxilom Ave., corner Echavez St., to corner D. Jakosalem St., while Phase 6 covers the 630-meter stretch from Gen. Maxilom Ave., corner D. Jakosalem near the Iglesia ni Cristo church, to F. Ramos St.
Councilor Jerry Guardo, chairman of the City Council committee on infrastructure, said it will take at least a year before a 500-meter cable wire is buried underground.
He added that the City Government is also working on a proposal that will allow a private firm to oversee the installation of conduit pipes underground within six months.
The proposal is being reviewed by the joint venture selection committee.
Guardo cited lack of technology and coordination with utility firms as factors to the non-compliance of the underground wiring system.
“The utility firms should get synchronized so the digging of the roads can be done in one time only. However, their funds are not paralleled,” he added. (JJL)