CITY Mayor Oscar Moreno is seeking the help of the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation Inc. (Oro Chamber) to prod the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-Northern Mindanao to finish the long-overdue coastal road project.
"I ask the Oro Chamber to help us in pushing for the acceleration of the DPWH of their coastal road construction. It has been in the making for 10 years I think, there is just one property obstructing it. This is still not finished, but hopefully there will be advanced implementation before the end of the year," he said.
The City Government is preparing for the influx of visitors in the city for the 26th Mindanao Business Conference (MinBizcon) this September and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meeting in July.
"It is challenging for us, again the security, the hotel, also on how things are orchestrated, in July, we will have our share of the Asean, so again, it’s going to be a very demanding exercise not only on the security side," he said.
Oro Chamber president Robertino Pizzaro said in an interview that they are ready to help the City Government in its efforts to pressure the DPWH-Northern Mindanao to accelerate the construction of the coastal road.
Pizzaro said that even without the MinBizcon, the city has already been suffering from the worsening traffic congestion in the past years.
"Of course, MinBizcon can add to this traffic problem, because lots of businessmen and investors will be coming over to join and see what the Region 10 has," he said.
"The coastal road will be a very big help if they can accelerate its construction, even if it's not completely finished, as long as it will be passable. Definitely, we will coordinate the city to push the DPWH to hasten the work and it helps that the DPWH is one of the agencies who has the biggest budget chunk for infrastructure," he added.
Poor traffic management easily discourages investors, and the city cannot afford losing them, Pizarro said.
Not only the coastal roads, but also hasten the completion of bypass roads, particularly in Bukidnon province, and all other infrastructure province surrounding the region.
Aside from coastal roads, the completion of bypass roads should be hastened, particularly in Bukidnon, and all other infrastructure surrounding the region.
"Of course with the assistance of city mayor, we could push for the early completion of this much-needed infrastructure," he said.
To date, the coastal road construction has been stalled because of right-of-way (ROW) issues.
According to DPWH records, the government has already spent and utilized P3,649,109 of the P4 billion estimated cost of the project.
The project is already 93 percent complete, citing that of the 12.77 kilometer measurement of the project, 11.87 kilometer is already done.
If all ROW issues will be addressed immediately, the project will be finished in early 2018.
Around 1,000 business executives, investors, industry players, policy makers, micro, small, and medium enterprises are expected to attend this year's business conference with the theme "Emerging Opportunities-One Mindanao."
Foreign guests from the United States and Russia have expressed interest in attending the event.
President Rodrigo Duterte will be the event’s keynote speaker.
