THE implementation unit of the P10-billion Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project and the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CCENRO) are planning to implement measures, which will mitigate the impact of the project on the environment, ahead of schedule. 

Lawyer Rafael Christopher Yap, BRT project manager, said they will ask the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to download to the City Government P35 million, which will be used to plant 350,000 seedlings. 

“The timeline on the implementation of the program is during the construction period, but to show good faith to the stakeholders for the environment, we asked that it will he done earlier,” Yap told SunStar Cebu. 

The City will have to plant 30,000 commercial fruit crops saplings and 320,000 indigenous and forest tree seedlings and saplings within areas in the city, which were tagged by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as forest management areas.

CCENRO has started establishing nurseries in 10 barangays, which include Sirao, Taptap, Sudlon II, Guba, Busay,Tagbao, Tabunan, Buhisan, Toong, and Adlaon where saplings will be stored. Each nursery can accommodate 35,000 seedlings.

These trees include Indian trees, narra, mahogany, caimito, kamatchiles, talisay, Indian rubber trees, ipil-ipil, jackfruit and germilina, among others.

The seedlings will replace the more than 2,100 trees that will be removed along the BRT route to pave the way for the project. 

Yap said there is already a legal opinion on the matter, saying that such a move is allowed. 

The City will hold again a public hearing on July 18 to tackle other concerns that were not covered in the first public hearing last month.