ILOILO City – The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) unanimously approved an ordinance placing underground all electrical and telecommunication wires and cables within the confines of plaza complexes, Sun Burst Park and all heritage properties in this city.
Approved during Wednesday’s regular session, the ordinance covers all public electric utility companies, telecommunication carriers and other similar entities engaged in the business of providing telephone, cable, internet service, and power supply.
“The City of Iloilo is confronted with unsightly dangling/sagging and inactive cables and wires of electric, telephone and cable companies that seriously pose danger to pedestrians, vehicles and inhabitants of the city,” read part of the ordinance authored by Councilor Romel Duron, chairman of the committee on public utilities.
The ordinance encompasses all the plaza complexes, Sun Burst Park, B.S. Aquino Avenue in Mandurriao district, and all protected cultural and heritage properties in the city as determined in Resolution No. 2019-248 and Resolutions 2018-01, 2019-06 and 2019-07 which declared the properties listed therein as protected cultural and heritage properties of Iloilo City.
The estimated cost of the said undergrounding, according to the Public Utilities Group of Iloilo City (PUGI), is P96 million at no cost to the city government.
“The cost for placing underground the electrical and telecommunication wires and cables including the restoration of the excavated streets/sidewalks shall be charged to the concerned public electric utility companies and public telecommunication carriers servicing the city of Iloilo,” Section 7 of the ordinance stipulated.
PUGI is expected to kick-off the project by March this year.
Specifically, the purposes of the ordinance are the following:
* to promote and popularize the nation’s historical and cultural heritage and resources in the city;
* to promote health and safety and preserve the comfort and convenience of their inhabitants;
* to bolster the image of Iloilo City as internationally competitive, capable of attracting investments while ensuring sustainable development in its midst:
* to provide the populace of the city with a clear model of sustainable and aesthetic response to the rising demands of progress and their impact to the environment; and
* to enhance safety and security of all plaza complexes and cultural and heritage site and properties in the city and other establishments in their vicinity
The ordinance mandated the Task Force Alambre and its oversight committee to ensure the continuous compliance of the stakeholders.
They are expected to establish coordinative and working relationship among members of the team, supervise and monitor the full implementation of the ordinance, and recommend additional provisions or actions that will promote and strengthen the objectives of the ordinance./PN
