THE Committee on Laws, Ordinances and Government has recommended to the Bacolod City City Council the ratification of the flyover project to be constructed at Lacson-Circumferential Road, Bacolod City.
Councilor Caesar Distrito, chairman of the said committee, came up with his favorable report regarding the project and endorsed it for the approval/ratification of the city council after a public hearing was held regarding the issue recently.
After thorough deliberation and hearing, the committee found the project is advantageous to the city and no local funds are involved in the project.
Distrito’s committee further said the project will address the city’s perennial problem of congested traffic and the City Legal Office itself has no objections to the memorandum of agreement.
City Administrator Dr. Roger Balo added this project had already been discussed since 2004 and should be started before October this year.
Before the project can be implemented, the city needs to comply with some documentary requirements, such as the endorsement of the project by the City Development Council and the Regional Development Council.
Balo added there are two proposed fly-over projects in two different locations in the city and this fly-over project which will be constructed in Lacson-Circumferential Road amounts to P386 million.
Distrito emphasized the project cannot be converted to another project.
Balo assured Distrito that his assumption is correct, considering that the flyover is a nationally- funded project under the President’s Bridge Program, which can not be aligned to another project, except through an amendment to existing laws.
Balo informed the committee during the hearing the fund for the project is not a loan but a grant from foreign countries for infrastructure development in the country. (Carla N. Cañet)