By Antonio V. Osmeña
IT IS unfortunate the political leaders in Metro Cebu are not so keen on planning growth in an orderly fashion.
The origin of a recent and widespread need for urban planning may be found in the very rapid growth of the urban population in the United States, along with the remarkable evolution in the mode of transportation and commercial intercourse.
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Rapid urbanization has gone beyond the boundaries of Metro Cebu. The trend is moving toward smaller satellite or dormitory suburban areas, where the amenities of urban living can be enjoyed without the attendant disadvantages of congestion, dust, noise and smoke, which have become characteristic of the larger cities.
Cebu City’s dynamic character must be sufficiently flexible in structural design to provide, if necessary, for sudden internal growth and orderly expansion beyond the city’s limits. Who, then, among our local political candidates endeavor to (1) stimulate wider interest in community problems, (2) coordinate civic developments, and (3)
stabilize property values by promoting an orderly growth in the city?
In the mid-1960s, Mayor Serging Osmeña Jr., through the city planning board, prepared a comprehensive road network master plan for the whole city. Resistance to control of private property, in the interest of public good, unfortunately delayed, as it does until now, the adoption and execution of a master plan.
This will probably hold true until the symptoms of a chaotic city growth arouse public attention and cause a demand for action to correct the costly errors of the past.
It is high time for our political leaders to recognize that organized foresight is less expensive than hindsight, and that wisely planned construction is preferable to costly reconstruction.
The foresight of Mayor Serging Osmeña Jr. to relocate the Lahug airport to Mactan Island, the construction of a bridge connecting Cebu and Mactan, the 160-hectare North Reclamation Project—all these are now realities.
Although enlightened civic leaders can really be convinced of the merits of good city planning, they may find it difficult to cope with the financial problems that the preparation and execution of a master plan entails.
Although there are, of course, concerns about the legal, social and technical aspects of guiding the orderly growth of a community, these are generally subsidiary to the problem of financing the improvements that are called for in the master plan.
Many comprehensive city plans lie dormant because of the failure to solve the economic issues upon which, in the final analysis, the master plan depends. Most of Metro Cebu’s municipal road network remains the way it was designed, for animal-drawn carriages. In most areas, these are not interconnected for an efficient flow of traffic.
The economic issue of property owners affected by the widening of the municipal roads has its anticipated benefits.
These are (1) considerable appreciation in the market value of the land, except those properties fully absorbed by the widening, (2) varied business opportunities in the use of the property, (3) an improvement in the prospects of the property’s being sold, and (4) the chance to negotiate with the City that the value agreed on the area affected by the road widening be credited as future real estate taxes.
It becomes the City’s burden to improve the roads; investors, speculators and property owners will enjoy the real estate tax credit while it lasts.
Inevitably, expropriation to widen the road will cost money, and the immediate costs always seem large, if not prohibitive. Community leaders must come to recognize that organized foresight is what is needed to implement a comprehensive road network master plan.
Among the prime considerations of such a plan are to reduce per capita urban costs and to facilitate the flow of commerce. To achieve the objective of traffic economy, a study must be made of traffic requirements and steps must be taken to provide adequate avenues of transport.
Sadly, our local leaders have depended so much on national infrastructure funding and have failed for many decades to attend to the obsolete municipal road network. To facilitate the movement of goods and people in and around the city, streets should be designed and interconnected to meet normal, as well as rush hour, traffic requirements.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on April 14, 2010.
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