CEBU CITY, June 3 (PNA) — A team from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) national organizing council Wednesday inspected the hotels in Cebu that will accommodate the 3,500 delegates to the summit later this year.
Ethel Natera, spokesperson of the Cebu provincial government, said the inspection is part of the preparations for the summit.
Cebu will host several senior ministerial meetings of the summit from August to September.
Natera said businessmen and other stakeholders have earlier attended a seminar on traffic where it was agreed that the chokepoint near the Marco Polo Hotel, which will house some meetings, would need to be addressed.
She said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 has assured that a month before the first APEC event, they will discontinue all road works in the cities of Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue and Cebu, whether finished or not.
Vehicular traffic may be rerouted during the event, Natera said, and a special lane may be assigned exclusively to delegates, considering that most of them will be hopping from one hotel to another to attend up to 50 meetings, some of which may have overlapping schedules.
Natera said it is possible that the number of delegates may still increase because some of them may bring their staff or family.
Security officers of hotels and malls in the city were also gathered Tuesday to discuss the security plans for the event.
Chief Insp. Enrique Belciña, chief of the Police Community Relations-Branch of the Cebu City Police Office, said the seminar give particular focus on preventing terrorist threats. (PNA)