A resolution was approved last week before the Bacolod City Sangguninag Panglunsod seeking a “consultation and coordination” between City Planning Office head Jean Ramos and City Engineer Belly Aguilon with the Bacolod City Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) regarding ongoing infrastructure projects across the city.
According to the policy, which was penned by City Councilor Wilson Gamboa, Jr., consultation and coordination was also requested with other concerned government agencies and public power utility companies as they also play a role in the implementation of road infrastructure projects.
The move was prompted by complaints received regarding good roads across the city being arbitrarily drilled and destroyed under the guise of “repair and improvement.” The city official said the issue is a matter of “common knowledge” and not “public perception.”
Consultations would bring about sound management of public money, which is intended for the proper construction of road projects—ones that eliminate, to the highest degree, hazards and dangers to vehicles, commuters, and pedestrians.
Gamboa pointed out, implementation of the P54 million road widening project along Honorata Manalo/Buri Road in the city’s Barangay Mandalagan was the subject of a resolution he authored in 2015. At the time, he called for the widening of the road to four lanes but, after his call was unheeded, DPWH instead extended the sidewalk and drilled holes through what appeared to be good roads.
He pointed out, since the extension is only being implemented along the stretch between Circumferential Road and GM Cordova Avenue, it will result in a bottleneck at the intersection leading to the Bacolod Queen of Mercy Hospital.
As a solution, the recently-passed resolution indicates proper consultation and coordination must initiate, monitor, review, evaluate and recommend changes to all above-mentioned projects, which will achieve “equitability of benefits, convenience, and, most of all, safety of all stakeholders.”/WDJ