THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will study Cagayan de Oro City Hall’s proposal to realign the city’s coastal road project in order to accommodate the city’s reclamation project, a top City Hall official confirmed today.

“We met with DPWH at their regional office last Friday and brought our proposal (to realign the coastal road project to their attention). The realignment will cover the eastern portion of the city. We’re looking at the Gusa up to Puerto site and the DPWH committed to looking into it and this will involve a detailed technical engineering study,” said City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) chief Ramir Balquin.

MAJOR REALIGNMENT. Councilor Edgar Cabanlas, co-chairman of the City Reclamation Authority along with Mayor Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy, elaborates to officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways-10 regional office about City Hall’s reclamation project along the coastal road. Photo sourced from Councilor Cabanlas’ Facebook page

In an interview, Balquin said an initial 20 hectares will be allocated for the city’s reclamation project that would cover the whole stretch including Barangays Gusa and Cugman.

“The redesign or realignment would be major (because it will move seaward. That would require a huge investment and before it can be done, the DPWH needs to conduct a feasibility study to determine its costs,” Balquin said.

In terms of financing the actual reclamation including the technical preparations, Balquin said City Hall is inclined to minimize spending on its own for the project.

“We’re looking at the situation that as much as possible, there will be a negligible investment (from City Hall) and the investors will do most of the financing given the magnitude of the reclamation project which requires so much funding,” he said.

This early, Balquin said they have received word of several proponents interested in the city’s proposed reclamation project.

“There are already applicants but we cannot reveal their names at this time given the nature of the project which is still technically a proposal. They expressed much interest in the reclamation and assured us that they have sufficient funds to implement the project,” Balquin said.

No timeline was set for the completion of the study, though Balquin said Mayor Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy’s administration is ‘really keen’ to pursue the city’s reclamation project.

“We’ve yet to update him (on the DPWH meeting) but he’s shown serious interest in the reclamation project. The fact that he issued an executive order creating the City Reclamation Authority is a manifestation (of that interest),” he said. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)