Quisumbing Files Bill Creating Metro Cebu Traffic Authority

Representative Gabriel Luis Quisumbing (sixth district) has filed a bill seeking for the creation of a lone traffic management body for the entire Metro Cebu.

Quisumbing filed House Bill 5556, or “An Act Creating the Metro Cebu Traffic Management Authority (MCTMA), Defining its Power and Functions, Providing Funds Therefor and for Other Purposes.”

Quisumbing said the traffic situation in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue is made worse by ongoing road construction being undertaken in preparation for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in August this year and the International Eucharistic Congress scheduled in 2016.

Quisumbing said Cebu’s population has steadily grown from 2000 to 2010 at an annual rate of 2.19 percent.

He said that at this rate, Cebu’s 4.17 million population in 2010 is expected to reach 4.64 million this year and 5.18 million by 2020.

Cebu’s business and population growth, he said, makes the need to address its traffic woes an urgent matter.

In 2013, Cebu City north district Rep. Raul del Mar filed HB 372, or “An Act Creating the Metro Cebu Traffic Authority, Defining its Powers and Functions, Providing Funds Therefor and for other Purposes.”

But the bill has remained pending at the House committee on transportation.

Quisumbing said he hopes HB 5556 would “get the ball rolling again” as it complements that of del Mar’s bill.

“Our bill seeks to create the Metro Cebu Traffic Management Authority centrally focused on planning and identification of traffic problems and coordinating with the local government units of Metro Cebu for the formulation of programs and projects to be included in a traffic management master plan,” Quisumbing said.

“We hope to formulate an efficient system in implementing measures to ease traffic congestion and ultimately ensure the safe and fast transport of people and products from one destination to another in the Province of Cebu,” he said.

He identified the local government units included in Metro Cebu as the cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Danao, Talisay, Naga, Cebu and Carcar and the municipalities of Consolacion, Liloan, Compostela, Cordova, Minglanilla and San Fernando and other cities and municipalities in Cebu province as may later be included by the MCTMA. (PNA) FFC/EB