MCDCB Holds 2nd Quarterly Meeting

Metro Cebu Development and Coordinating Board held their 2nd quarterly meeting last June 16, at the Metropolitan Cebu Water District social hall.

The meeting was headed by Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III.

Engineer Noel Dalena, General Manager of the MCWD, welcomed the participants to the meeting. Engr. Dalena hoped for “a fruitful discussion for the sake of Metro Cebu”.

The welcoming message was followed by another message coming from Gov. Davide as the chairperson of the board. The governor talked about pursuing the dream of a sustainable economic development in Metro Cebu, as they should continue the “good year” they had last year.

“No one can achieve sustainable development alone,” Gov. Davide ended his speech. He called for everyone to work together for a better Metro Cebu.

OECD discusses “Green Growth”

Dr. Tadashi Matsumoto of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development gave a presentation regarding the preliminary findings of their study on Green Growth.

The Green Growth project’s goal is to provide policies that balances economic growth and sustainability.

Dr. Matsumoto discussed different projects and policies that answer to economic sustainability. Examples of which are Green Infrastructure, Waste-to-Energy, Resilience Policies, among others.

Dr Matsumoto ended his presentation by saying OECD is ready to provide a draft of the proposal to the board for further discussion.

Project Trail

Representatives from the University of San Carlos, in partnership with Mega Cebu, presented Project Trail, a website that allows the public to view and monitor current constructions happening in Cebu.

Engineer Christine Gohetia, faculty member of the University of San Carlos, discussed how the website worked. Information of constructions happening in Cebu can be seen in the website. Any of the people doing construction can send details of the project to Mega Cebu. Mega Cebu then can either approve or disapprove the projects to be uploaded on the website.

Another project discussed by Engr. Gohetia is Alert Mandaue Application that was patterned from Better Panang in Malaysia.

The website’s purpose is to provide an avenue for citizens to upload complaints and suggestions regarding the different situations happening in their own places.

Engr. Gohetia concluded in saying that as of now, although citizens are now uploading their complaints, there is still a lacking entity to answer to these problems. She proposed to the government of Cebu or any agency to help in solving these problems and complaints by citizens on the ground.

During the open forum, a member of the board asked if the construction on Projects Trail are those directly under DPWH. To which Engr. Gohetia answered that these projects present are those participated by the students of USC themselves.

To which another panel of the board suggested that they add the word “study” to Project Trail in order to avoid confusion.

Proposed Metro Cebu Traffic Enforcers Academy

Subcommittee on Transport and Traffic Management proposed the creation of Metro Cebu Traffic Enforcers Academy.

Ms. Evelyn Nacario-Castro discussed how there are already programs being held that educate traffic enforcers. She added how there are three areas the workshop focus on: enforcing traffic, controlling and directing traffic, and responding to incidents on the road.

A partnership is to be done between the Cebu Transportation Office and TESDA in order to institutionalize the said academy.

Mega Cebu and GIZ/Global Initiative for Disaster Risk Management: Suitability Map

GIZ is a private sector under Germany which aims to have a sustainable development and have full time educational activities.

They said that if we want to have a livable environment, it starts from understanding the risk and vulnerability that urban areas are facing.

Mr. Gordon Alan. P. Joseph discussed the suitability map. Which is a map where you can determine areas with damage, and has the percentage of how damaged the area is.

Septage Treatments Plans for Mananga and Kotkot Dams

Engr. Noel R. Dalena, discussed and updated the panel regarding Mananga and Kotkot Dams septage treatment plans.

Master Plan Study on Cebu Integrated Area Development

Director Efren B. Carreon, tackled the updates about the study.

Provincial Water Resources Authority

Archt. Socorro Atega discussed the whole purpose of this. Optimum utilization of water, wise and effective usage, and this addresses the needs for better utilization, management, and protection of water resources.

Archt. Atega said, that this is not only for drinking water, but all kinds of water bodies that are facing negative issues.

“Water crisis, is a government crisis,” she said.

The meeting ended through a video presentation presented by Ms. Caroline Ballesteros. It was about MCDCB’s accomplishments in first semester of 2016.