BACOLOD City Mayor Monico Puentevella said business owners and some individuals are opposed to the construction of a flyover along Burgos Extension-Circumferential Road on the eastern side of the city.
Puentevella noted that the proposed flyover will affect Eastview Hotel, Panasiatic Call Center, Hi-Strip, Save More, Lopue’s East and other establishments in the area.
The proposed construction of two more flyovers in Bacolod – the other one along the Magsaysay Avenue-Araneta Street junction – will be tackled during a public consultation this morning at the Department of Public Works and Highways District Engineering Office in the city.
Puentevella said he will attend the public consultation to listen to the petition of the business owners and other groups.
“I will study the options and if I see wisdom, logic and better progress for the area, I will go with the business establishments in North Drive and Burgos Extension,” he said.
While he noted that the area along Circumferential Road is indeed “prosperous, progressive and booming,” Puentevella said he is still willing to listen to the petitions and study his options on what is best not only for the area, but for the entire city as well.
Puentevella recalled that when he was still congressman, two flyovers were proposed in Bacolod. The first one is the existing structure along Barangay Bata and the other along Magsaysay Avenue-Araneta Street.
However, there was a request to transfer the proposed flyover in Magsaysay Avenue to Burgos Extension-Circumferential Road by the previous administration in 2010 as “traffic flow is much heavier and is expected to get heavier as the junction is part of a high growth area,” he said.
Even if the flyover project has already been approved by the DPWH, this will still need the imprimatur of the, the mayor said.
Puentevella said he is planning to write to President Benigno S. Aquino III to lobby for the sugar road project he initiated back in 2003 so this can be used by trucks transporting sugarcane and they will no longer have to pass through Burgos Extension-Circumferential Road.
He added that he will suggest to the President that the budget intended for the flyover be allocated instead for the development of the outer Circumferential Road to be used by sugarcane trucks as an alternative route.