FINALLY, here’s something Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino can agree on.
A group of Cabinet secretaries agreed on Wednesday to hire technical service consultants to review the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, two weeks after the transportation secretary and Dino recommended to cancel it.
In separate statements, Osmeña and Dino welcomed the move made by the National Economic and Development Authority’s Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC).
“Chairman (Carlos) Dominguez wants a plan in 10 days to address the transportation and traffic problem in Cebu,” Dino said. He quoted the finance secretary as saying, “We’ll give you a basket of solutions.”
Osmeña, for his part, said in a phone interview: “That’s good. I’ve been asking for transparency. It’s about time.”
Last Tuesday, the mayor wrote Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and the ICC members to appeal to them not to cancel the Cebu BRT.
Nearly four years ago, the World Bank approved a financial package of US$116 million for the Cebu BRT, which was supposed to include N. Bacalso Ave., part of Osmeña Blvd. and the Banilad-Talamban corridor. The government’s counterpart was pegged at $87.5 million.
The French Development Agency, in 2015, extended a $57-million loan for the Cebu BRT. The Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility conducted the pre-feasibility study for the project, while the World Bank handled the feasibility study itself. It sent traffic experts in February 2008 to study whether a BRT would work in the Banilad-Talamban area.
Dino, however, is part of a camp that believes a Light Rail Transit (LRT) is the more viable solution for Cebu’s traffic congestion. His office circulated two weeks ago an announcement that a consortium of local and Chinese companies was working with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) on requirements for an LRT that would be built as a private-public partnership.
“I fully support NEDA-ICC’s action to hire a TSC in order to conduct a second look whether or not to cancel the Cebu BRT Project,” said Dino, who attended yesterday’s ICC meeting.
He quoted Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade as telling the committee that Cebu’s roads would not permit a successful BRT, which, if allowed, would use dedicated lanes and reduce the remaining roads for public transport.
“We cannot have a project that will create more traffic. Secretary Tugade is going to give Cebu a basket of solutions, including geometric improvements like flared intersections, greenways, and an intelligent traffic signaling system,” Dino said.
Political color
NEDA Director-General Ernesto Pernia, he said, told the ICC that it is not good that the BRT project cancellation is being “trumped by political issues” between Dino and the mayor.
“With all due respect to the NEDA secretary, I am not a politician. Two years in OPAV (Office of the Presidential Assisttant) does not transform me to become a politician. I have never run for public office before and I do not even have the slightest intention to run for public office,” Dino said.
In his letter to the ICC, Osmeña said that it’s true the Cebu BRT has been delayed, but that it should be a challenge for the transportation department to catch up, instead of recommending to cancel the project.
He also cited, as one reason for the delay, the absence of technical service consultants whose contracts had not been awarded by the DOTr, which led to delays in acquiring road right-of-way for the project.
The latest development, the mayor said, will allow both sides to present their positions on the Cebu BRT.
“Our position is already well-defined. This (LRT) is a ghost project so let them explain themselves. They’re ego- tripping. They used the term ‘more superior’ (than the Cebu BRT project) pero way unod (but failed to show substance). I’ll be happy to debate with Mr. Dino,” he said. (SunStar Philippines)