A few columns back we took up as a major subject the complaints of motorists both those driving public utility vehicles and privately-owned ones, and the humongous traffic they suffer they use the Talandang-Talomo River-Calinan Road hoping to save time and gas by reducing travel distance from the Davao City proper up to Calinan by as much as 10 to 13 kilometers. Instead, the motorists end up getting stuck in some stretches of the road where only half of the 2-lane, 6-meter wide road is available for passage.
The motorists, mostly those coming from Calinan going downtown drop by our little snack-in place to recover themselves from the effect of stress that they claim, they suffer because of the very long queue of vehicles all competing to get ahead of the pack to extricate themselves from the risky maneuvering in the 3-meter wide single lane with an open drainage canal on the side to boot.
In other words, while we are also affected by the same hustle we are not one of those grudgingly complaining because we knew beforehand that the vehicular traffic is expected when those assigned to manage it are either not around or those manning at both ends are unable to properly coordinate their instructions to the motorists. So, what we do while we are in our rural residence in Talandang is we have to sacrifice taking the longer route to Calinan resulting in the additional expense in fuel. We use the route from our place to Kilometer 22 in Los Amigos which is 1O kilometer away from our house. Adding the 6 kilometers from Km. 22 in Los Amigos to Calinan it becomes a 16-kilometer travel one way or a total of 32 kilometers including our return trip. The Talandang-Calinan Route is barely 12 kilometers to and from. So, for us, and any other motorists who take the same route we are taking every time we go to Calinan Proper, there will be additional liters of fuel to be consumed.
Since most motorists know us to be in the media, while taking their snack they ask us if we could carry the cudgel for them so their inconvenience can be made known to the project owners – the partners Davao City Water District (DCWD) and the Apo Agua Infrastructura, Inc. — or their contractors and sub-contractors.
We oblige and, through this column, we called the attention of our friends who are connected with the Apo Agua so the motorists’ concerns can be addressed. And one of our very few friends at Apo Agua did not fail us. Like he used to be when he was our immediate superior in a well-known company, our friend was quick in advising the complaining motorists through us that the management of the Apo Agua is doing the best it could not only to have the pipe-laying, covering the dug portion and the restoration work on the destroyed road stretches completed the soonest, but also managing and monitoring the flow of vehicles using the road as well as making sure that personnel are added to obviate traffic bedlam.
Though our friend warns that what he shared to us is not an official statement, he is actually giving us an update of what his firm is doing after being made aware of the situation in that portion of the company’s project. This is our former boss’ update that hopefully will put to rest the apprehension of the motorists that the traffic situation in that particular route may result to accidents that could do serious damage to properties or even injure or sap the lives of people:
“For the area mentioned (Calinan Proper-De Lara-Talanding), our road restoration contractor has deployed multiple crews in order to restore the road to its original condition as soon as possible. We are aware that the unrestored portion has impacted the community, especially tricycle drivers and students. Our team is on the ground to make sure this problem is resolved ASAP.
“We have already coordinated with our contractor to augment its traffic management personnel, especially in critical areas and rush hour times. We have also deployed our own team to closely monitor and manage the traffic management system.
“With our increased monitoring in the area and our action plan, we target to reduce traffic congestion in the area and inconvenience to motorists caused by our restoration activities.”
Indeed our former boss continues to better his style of dealing with problems related to running large companies the products and services of which are critical to the people in the community. And the more he aged the more responsive he becomes.
He is still the same person who confronts sensitive issues head-on if only to arrive at solutions in the fastest possible time without adding injuries to the company’s or anybody’s reputation.
We are not surprised why even with his advancing years he is still treasured by the conglomerate where the firm he is currently director, belongs.
