STARTING this month, the Cebu City Government and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 will start coordinating with each other in implementing projects in Cebu City.
The two parties met in a coordination meeting last week to discuss their projects.
“Duplication of projects has been our problem in the City because there are DPWH projects that duplicate ours,” City Legal Officer Jerone Castillo said.
Castillo, along with City Administrator Lucelle Mercado, met with representatives from DPWH Cebu City Engineering District.
“There was a commitment already from DPWH that we will be coordinating,” Castillo said.
Because of the commitment, the group is set to meet once a month as a regular monitoring and coordinating meeting.
He said both the City and the public work office will compare all the approved projects to determine if there are no duplications. By this, both can save on funds.
If there are duplications, Castillo said, they will ask DPWH to undertake the project considering that City has a lot of other projects that have no funds.
“We agreed that we will be monitoring all the projects, especially on the implementation stage,” Castillo said.
Among those that the group discussed during the meeting is the City’s plan to revitalize Colon St. to avoid flooding in the downtown during heavy rains.
Castillo has been tasked by Mayor Michael Rama to lead the project.
Because he supervises the project, Castillo said, he will sit down with DPWH until it will be completed.
“They already determined the possible steps that we will be taking to address the drainage problem in the area,” he said.
All other projects, Castillo said, will be monitored by Mercado and the City’s Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW).
Rama’s plan to construct a coastal highway that will connect the South Road Properties (SRP) to N. Bacalso Ave. was also discussed.
“Our counterparts are very receptive to help us with the coastal highway that will be a very good infrastructure program that the DPWH can implement,” Castillo said.