DESPITE the delay in the implementation of the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, it has not been shelved.
Cebu City Mayor-elect Edgardo Labella, in a recent SunStar Cebu live interview, said the BRT will be a component of an integrated inter-modal transport system that will also include the Light Rail Transit project.
“It would not necessarily exlude the other modes of mass transport,” Labella said.
Despite this revelation, Cebu City Administrator Nigel Paul Villarete remains hopeful the next administration will implement the BRT project.
“It’s no longer in our hands. Transition to the new government means that we have to give the new administration the decision on what to do with a project,” he said.
Several attempts have been made to stop the project.
In April last year, Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade and Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino both recommended the cancellation of the Cebu BRT. Among their reasons were project delays that have already cost some P14 million in fees and their views that Cebu City’s roads are too narrow for the BRT to work efficiently.
Outgoing Mayor Tomas Osmeña, a proponent of the project, received support from some business and civic groups,
In a signed manifesto, the group agreed that road widening along the proposed BRT route “was essential” but the project should be pursued as a short-term solution to the city’s worsening traffic problem.
Villarete pointed out that at some point, Labella and Vice Mayor-elect Michael Rama agreed to the project.
But if they do decide to scrap the BRT, they should talk to the DOTr since it is a national project, Villarete said.
And since the project is funded by a foreign loan, DOTr will have to return the money and pay the penalties, he said.
But if it does push through, the BRT is expected to be operational in 2022, he said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will coordinate with newly elected officials and other stakeholders in the implementation of the Mandaue-Consolacion-Liloan Bypass Road project to ease traffic in the north.
DPWH 7 Director Edgar Tabacon said the project is estimated to cost P38.1 billion under the “Build, Build, Build” program of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Tabacon said the length of the six-lane road project is 17.33 kilometers. It will pass through the foreshores of Mandaue City and Consolacion and Liloan towns to connect to Northern Cebu.
However the road right-of-way will have to be settled first before civil work can start otherwise the project will again be delayed, he said.
Fifth District Representative-elect Duke Frasco said he will support the implementation of the coastal road as it will complement the one-hectare port that will serve both passengers and cargoes that will soon rise in Barangay Poblacion, Liloan.
Sixth District Provincial Board Member-elect Glenn Soco said the bypass road is one of the five big ticket projects in the final report of the Japan International Cooperation Agency study called “Metro Cebu Urban Transport Master Plan.”
Soco said the Infrastructure Development Committee of the Regional Development Council 7 created a technical working group, which is composed of representatives from DPWH, concerned local government units and private sector representatives, among others, to review the project. (RVC, EOB)