Whose project is the proposed flyover in Bacolod City?

Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella announced that a “mega bridge” flyover will soon rise in Bacolod City and shall answer the perennial traffic problem of the city, a press release from his office said.

The flyover shall be constructed at the junction of Lacson Street and B.S. Aquino Drive, the press release said.

“The flyover is part of the Mega Bridges for Urban and Rural Development Project of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo,” Puentevella said. “Since traffic is the biggest problem of Bacolod as an investment city, this is my contribution to ease the impact of traffic problems to everyday life of our public,” he added.

However, City Administrator Roger Balo yesterday said the flyover is a project initiated by the city.

Balo said a boring test had already been conducted in Bacolod by Mabey and Johnson Limited and Woodfields Consultant in 2007, which visited the Office of the Mayor on Dec.18, 2006 to seek assistance in conducting an Environmental Impact Assessment on the location of the project.

He said he has no idea about another boring test to be conducted along Lacson Street since the DPWH did not coordinate with the City Engineer’s Office. They only informed the Bacolod Traffic Authority that they will work, he added.

Mayor Evelio Leonardia said that, in almost three years, they have never heard Puentevella mention anything about the flyover, and he had done so only when it was about to be started.

Leonardia said that, together with Balo, they had started talks on the flyover projects as early as 2004 and the city worked to secure all clearances and pertinent documents to facilitate its construction right away.

Balo was then meticulously attending to the project, when, all of a sudden, Puentevella issued a statement questioning it and everything stopped, Leonardia said. He then predicted that someone will claim credit for the project and, true enough, this has happened, he said.

Leonardia recalled that the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod had approved his request for endorsement of the flyover projects at Lacson-Burgos streets and Lacson-B.S. Aquino Drive in April 2007 yet.

He said only Councilor Catalino Alisbo had voted against it, saying owners of establishments at Lacson-Burgos streets should first be consulted through a public hearing. Alisbo also questioned the feasibility study conducted by the consultants of the project, he added.

Leonardia said there were suggestions that the proposed flyover project at Burgos-Lacson streets be transferred, either to Magsaysay-Araneta streets or at the junction of Lopue’s East, where the traffic is expected to change when the new government center is opened.

The flyovers, a nationally-funded project, which was approved by the President on Oct. 29, 2006, costs about P250 million each, he said.

Leonardia had also sought the President’s personal intervention in fast-tracking the construction of the two projects for Bacolod, in a letter dated May 19, 2008.

He also sent a tracer to Department of Public Works and Highways executive director Emil Sadain dated Apr. 16, 2008 inquiring about the new schedule of the construction of the flyover projects in Bacolod, after it was temporarily suspended for “reasons unknown” to them.

The press release of Puentevella also said that in his letter dated Jan. 12, 2009, Sadain informed the solon that the DPWH is now on the stage of designing the flyover.

The project consultants will be conducting the soil/geotechnical investigation anytime this week as part of the design structure, the press release said.

Puentevella said that his office is constructing one flyover first then see how it can help solve the traffic problems at Lacson-B.S. Aquino junction then construct another one in another area in the city when necessary.*CGS

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