BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio Domogan last week created a technical working group to conduct a feasibility study on an underground system for telecommunication and electric power lines within the city’s central business district.
The mayor tasked the city engineering office and the city council chair of the committee on public utilities to head the group with members from the city building and architecture office, city administrator’s office, the Dept. of Public Works and Highways Baguio City District Engineering Office, the city planning and development office, the Globe Telecomm, Smart Communications Inc., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company and the Benguet Electric Cooperative Inc.
In his Administrative Order No. 63, the mayor said this is in line with the proposed ordinance of Councilor Leandro Yangot Jr. which requires public utility companies “utilizing wires and cables to install underground lines and obliging them to convert overhead lines within the (CBD) into underground lines.”
The mayor said the proposal has merit as it addresses “the topsy-turvy wiring and cable networks of public utility companies that create eyesores and pose safety challenges.”
“The committee on public utilities… chaired by Councilor Benny Bomogao noted through its committee report that the proposed ordinance is already required under the new environment code (Ordinance No. 18 series of 2016) which indeed requires implementation and enforcement,” the mayor noted.
In a dialogue conducted by the city council last March, officials of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and Sky Cable expressed support to the proposal saying that underground lines are indeed advantageous even for their service.
The mayor said the TWG is expected to come up with recommendations to pursue the project. /Aileen P. Refuerzo
