Cagayan de Oro City’s scheduled signing of a sisterhood agreement with Zamboanga City will bolster cooperation between the two local governments on road safety and traffic, City Hall’s traffic chief said on Thursday.

‘The signing of the sisterhood agreement between Cagayan de Oro City and Zamboanga City scheduled on the third week of November will facilitate cooperation (and sharing of best practices on road safety and traffic enforcement),’ said Roads and Traffic Administration (RTA) chief Engr. Nonito Oclarit in Visayan in an interview.

 

Oclarit, who spoke out on the RTA’s traffic programs during Tuesday’s executive budget hearing with the 20th City Council, also confirmed that about P1.2 million of their P115,631,088 budget for this year is set aside to acquire speed guns while half a million pesos is allocated to buy Global Positioning System (GPS) trackers for their traffic personnel.

 

Oclarit said their budget for next year is pegged at P123,405,817. ‘The GPS trackers will enable us to track down our personnel assigned in key traffic hotspots in Cagayan de Oro City. Right now we are canvassing for the best prices on GPS trackers and speed guns (in the market),’ Oclarit said in Visayan.

 

In terms of personnel, Oclarit told the City Council during the executive budget hearing that they need an additional 75 to 100 personnel to augment their existing 472 personnel. ‘Right now we are coordinating with the PNP Highway Patrol Group and the Cagayan de Oro City police to augment our traffic enforcement,’ he said.

 

Oclarit said they’re also waiting on the approval of the road safety ordinance which they hope would be done before year end. ‘The road safety ordinance is now with the City Council’s committee on public utilities and it will augment our traffic enforcement campaign,’ he said.

 

Under the speed limit ordinance of the city’s Traffic Code, Oclarit said a 60 kilometer per hour speed limit is enforced on national highways while a 20 kph speed limit and 30 kph speed limit is mandated on local and secondary roads, respectively, Oclarit said. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)