A FILIPINO-Chinese-Canadian Transportation Investment Group is proposing to establish a monorail system in Davao City.
The monorail project, which is aimed at solving the inner city traffic problem of Davao City, will be composed of two Integrated Bus Jeepney Monorail Terminal in Panacan for the North bound routes and Ulas for the South bound routes.
The group headed by Transportation Consortium Chair Domingo Panaloza, in an email interview, said they had a technical presentation last Dec 20, 2016 with Ivan Cortez, Davao City Planning and Development Officer (DCPDO).
After the presentation, the group said, Cortez is recommending their unsolicited proposal for a memorandum of understanding for the Davao City Monorail Project.
A transportation consultant from Manila will conduct a survey to check the feasibility of the Monorail for Davao City.
Panaloza said the consultant from China Railway Engineering Consulting Group will come to Davao this January 22 to 25 to determine the feasibility of the route and determine some engineering challenges like the Bankerohan and Bolton Bridge.
The group underscored a monorail system is better than light rail transit and metro rail transit systems as the latter will have to be constructed through the National Government.
“Being a private transportation consortium, we will find creative ways to drive down infrastructure and operation cost by entertaining creative solutions like Cargo at night operation, and Tourism City Loop Night Tours aside from advertisement and rentals of commercial spaces on the station,” he said.
The group will also operate malls in every station for parking and commercial spaces. Most of the stations are linked to malls like SM and Ayala.
The objective of the group is to make sure that the Mass Transportation equation does not just solve traffic problem in the city but will also address the concerns of the transportation groups like jeepney drivers and operators.
The said transportation group will enter a Public Private Community Partnership where marginalized sectors like the jeepney drivers will not be displaced.
The Transportation consortium will also develop e-Jeepney so that in the future the PUJ will no longer be a gas-guzzler but will be electric jeepneys that will not produce pollution because it is powered by easy exchange batteries.
Cortez said in a report the City Government will start this month to craft a roadmap, which would serve as guideline on what projects should be pursued in the next 30-40 years to ease traffic and designate areas for infrastructure development.