By Aileen P. Refuerzo
BAGUIO CITY – The city council Monday urged the Dept. of Public Works and Highways to improve its public consultation and information strategies on their public works projects to allow people more opportunities to be informed, ventilate their opinions and to prepare for the inconvenience that may result from the implementation of the projects.
The body also asked the department to install bigger billboards on both ends of the project sites for better visibility and serve the people’s information needs.
The body felt that the department’s strategy was lacking after the DPWH successively implemented road works in various parts of the city resulting to traffic snarls, confusion and public outcry.
The city council invited DPWH Cordillera regional director Edilberto Carabbacan and Assistant Regional Director Neri Bueno to its session to shed light on the on-going projects particularly on their compliance with the provisions of the Local Government Code dealing on the need to conduct consultations with the affected parties before the implementation of the projects.
The officials assured that they are complying with said requirements but the body still adopted a resolution asking the DPWH to comply with the consultation requirements of the LGC particularly sections 2c and 27.
Vice Mayor Daniel Farinas said the body also wants the DPWH to improve coordination with the local government units to properly guide the locality and avoid confusion.
He said they support the move in Congress to speed up bidding procedures of projects funded under the General Appropriations Act to avoid delay that causes disturbance to the public.
The body also inquired on the department’s basis in deciding on road repairs in view of the observations here that the current restoration works are not needed as some roads including Bokawkan road are still in good condition.
The officials clarified that they are following a reliable system of evaluating road condition that classifies the status of roads into three: bad, poor and fair. Bad status would mean that the road requires rehabilitation as in the case of Loakan Road. Poor status means reblocking works as in the case of Bokawkan Road while fair condition requires overlay job.
The body further asked the department to consider adopting new technologies to speed up the curing period of road works to ease the burden of the public affected by traffic disruptions.
As this developed, the body urged the DPWH to postpone the closure of Ferguson Road until the repair work along Bokawkan Road is finished to avoid further traffic snarls in the area.
Bokawkan Road is slated for opening on Sept. 3.
Moreover, the department was asked to submit a list of their projects in line for inclusion in the Annual Investment Plan of the city.
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