Despite issues, P240M earmarked for Phase 3 traffic light project

Despite issues, P240M earmarked for Phase 3 traffic light project
Photo by Juan Carlo de Vela
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DESPITE unsettled payment and legal issues surrounding the first two phases of Cebu City’s traffic light modernization project, the City’s executive department has allocated P240 million for the project’s third phase in the proposed 2025 budget.

Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia said on Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, that City Hall has yet to settle the remaining financial obligation to the supplier for the first and second phases of the modern traffic light system, which had a total cost of P480 million when launched in 2020.

Garcia said the third phase of the project will cover at least 40 intersections in the city.

The selected bidder will replace the city’s more than 40-year-old traffic lights, installed by the Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System, with modern digital traffic signal lights.

The improvements will also include underground cables, high-definition cameras and the use of artificial intelligence to detect traffic flow and automatically adjust signal timing.

Garcia said the project consists of four phases, and he plans to complete them. On Monday, he announced the inclusion of the budget for the third phase in the proposed P17.9 billion budget for 2025.

He said the City Government has already paid 90 percent of the P232 million cost for the first phase, which replaced and modernized traffic lights at 18 intersections in the city.

In the second phase, which covers 27 intersections, the City Hall has already paid at least 15 percent, or the mobilization cost, of P248 million, though it has yet to be completed.

“All of these are not during my time, this is all in the previous administration (late Edgardo Labella),” said Garcia in a press conference on Monday.

In a text message on Tuesday, Oct. 22, Kent Francesco Jongoy, assistant chief of the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO), said the proposal for phase three is still pending approval from the Traffic Management Coordination Committee (TMCC).

If approved, it will be endorsed to the City Council, he said.

On Sept. 30, Garcia told SunStar Cebu that the supplier, Triune Electronics Systems Inc., and Cylix Tech CCTV threatened to file a case before the Office of the Ombudsman if payment is not made.

This prompted him to form a task force to investigate reports of overpricing and assess the system’s suitability before payment could be made.

Jongoy, on Tuesday, said the task force has already completed their inspections and is planning to meet this week to draft the recommendation report to Garcia.

However, he said it would be the mayor’s discretion to disclose the contents of the report.

The task force, led by Local School Board chairman Raddy Diola, also compared the traffic system to similar projects in other cities.

The task force will also review compliance with contract deliverables and address concerns raised by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) over the traffic light system.

On Oct. 9, Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera passed a resolution seeking legal opinion in response to an ultimatum issued by project suppliers, demanding full payment.

The contract between the City Government and the supplier was questioned after it was discovered that instead of the late mayor Edgardo Labella’s signature in the agreement, it was former city administrator Floro Casas who signed the documents.

The modern traffic signal lights system, including the command center, has not yet been accepted and turned over to the City Government after the TMCC cast doubt on the system back in 2023.

Dismissed Cebu City mayor Michael Rama sought MMDA experts to review the suitability of the modern traffic signal lights last November.

On Sept. 18, experts from MMDA transmitted their comprehensive technical report to the City Council, where their report found several deficiencies in the new system, such as the City’s traffic light system cannot process real-time traffic conditions, there is inadequate space in the command center and there are no safety features for pedestrian crossing.

Among MMDA’s recommendations are upgrading the traffic management server to process real-time traffic data, prioritizing pedestrian safety by adjusting signal timings, building a dedicated Command Center with adequate space, using the full potential of the license plate recognition cameras for traffic rule enforcement and making the traffic light controllers modular for easier maintenance.

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