THE Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) reasons in recommending that the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) program be cancelled are baseless, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña told officials who will take up the project today.
In a letter to the National Economic and Development Authority’s Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC), the mayor answered the reasons that Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade and Presidential Adviser Michael Dino cited when they recommend last April 11 to cancel the BRT.
The NEDA-ICC is set to meet today.
Nearly four years ago, the World Bank approved a loan package of US$141 million for the Cebu BRT, some 18 years after the idea of building one in Cebu was first proposed.
The BRT is considered a cheaper, more flexible alternative to railways, and uses buses on reserved lanes, usually in the center of the road.
Osmeña said in his letter that while it’s true the Cebu BRT has suffered delays, that shouldn’t be a reason to cancel, but a challenge for the DOTr to “upgrade its performance in order to erase the delay” and complete the project.
“All of the involved stakeholders of the project never contemplated cancellation, even with the delays,” Osmeña said, referring to the World Bank and the French Development Agency.
In their letter, Tugade and Dino had pointed out that delays in the BRT project have led to “unnecessary administrative costs” amounting to P14.48 million in commitment fees and P2.95 million in service fees. They said that as of March 31 this year, the Detailed Engineering Design was still 60.82 percent complete, three months after it was supposed to have been completed.
Among the reasons for the delay, Osmeña answered, was the DOTr’s decision not to award contracts for the Cebu BRT’s technical service consultants.
“The solution is to fast-track the implementation, not cancel the project,” Osmeña wrote.
He also addressed Tugade and Dino’s point that Cebu City’s roads are too narrow for the BRT to work efficiently.
“The narrow roads in Cebu have been a well-known condition from the time the project was proposed and has been considered in all stages of the evaluation and approval process, even in the NEDA ICC and NEDA Board discussions,” the mayor pointed out.
“It is not a new condition that can justify the removal of the project.”
That’s why it’s urgent
As to the increase in registered vehicles—the addition of more than 119,000 units from 2014, when the feasibility study ended, to 2017—Osmeña said, “the more it is necessary and urgent to get the Cebu BRT completed.”
“The increase in the number of vehicles results in lower vehicle speed, which increases the time savings accrued by the project and actually increases the project’s viability in terms of its economic internal rate of return (EIRR). In short, the significant increase in vehicle growth rate makes the project even more viable,” Osmeña said.
The EIRR estimates how profitable potential investments will be.
In his letter, Mayor Osmeña pointed out that the ICC has, at least twice, already confirmed that the Cebu BRT can achieve an EIRR of 53 percent, “in spite of the narrow roads.”
His letter is addressed to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III as chair of the ICC, with copies for NEDA Director-General Ernesto Pernia, the executive secretary, the cabinet secretary, and the heads of the budget, energy and trade departments. Also in the ICC are the governor of the central bank and the executive director of the Public-Private Partnership Center.
In remarks he prepared for the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry last Thursday, Secretary Dominguez said that government “will likewise push for new roads and a rapid bus transit system to dramatically reduce congestion in this city.”
Interviewed separately, an officer of the Metro Cebu Development Coordinating Board (MCDCB) said that the DOTr was correct in recommending to scrap the Cebu BRT.
“It is technically deficient and in spite of the long delays, the proponents have not been able to address the technical deficiencies that include, among others, the too narrow roads in Cebu,” said Gordon Alan Joseph, who heads the MCDCB research, program, and organization development executive committee.
“Let’s leave the recommendations to experts and from what I know of the Mega Cebu Development Roadmap and the ongoing JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) Transport and Traffic Master Plan, the LRT is a key recommendation,” Joseph said.
For its part, the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that the BRT should proceed, but that the roads along it should be widened. They appealed to everyone “to set aside political differences and work together to solve traffic problems.”