ALTHOUGH a multitude of issues still needs to be resolved for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project to proceed in Cebu, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has actually begun accepting bids for the first package of the project already.
Last Feb. 8, the DOTr posted an invitation to bid for the construction of infrastructure from Capitol to the Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT) and an enhancement of the link to the Cebu port that would form part of the BRT project.
The Philippines will use P1.048 billion of the loan it has received from the World Bank for the BRT, for the contract it is now opening for bids, Paul Jasper de Guzman, chairman of the Bids and Awards Committee IX, said in the Invitation for Bid.
He defined the scope of work for the construction of the BRT infrastructure as including “trunk lines, sidewalk improvement, stations and other appurtenances from Capitol to CSBT,” including a link to the port along Osmeña Blvd.
The Cebu South Bus Terminal is located on the busy Natalio Bacalso Ave. in Cebu City.
The duration of the contract would be one year.
A pre-bid meeting will be held through video conference on Feb. 28.
The deadline for submission of the bids is April 4, 2022. The bid security is P21 million.
Bidders with conflicts of interest for links with, among others, other bidders and suppliers of goods and services for the project, will be disqualified.
Last Thursday, Cebu City Councilor James Anthony Cuenco said the BRT could not move forward as the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) had yet to approve the changes in the project’s scope and cost.
Furthermore, Cuenco said, the DOTr and Neda are now asking the City to grant them the free use of a 1.6-hectare lot in the South Road Properties for 25 years for the BRT terminal “when everything is still up in limbo.”
The Cebu BRT project, which costs US$198 million (P10.189 billion), is funded by the French government through Agence Française de Développement (Eur 50.89 million or $57.62 million); the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development ($116 million), the lending arm of the World Bank Group; and the Clean Technology Fund ($25 million) administered by the World Bank.
Last year, Neda’s Investment Coordination Committee approved a two-year extension of the foreign loans for the Cebu BRT project after the loans made for the project were about to end.
The project will cover 23 kilometers of roads from Barangay Bulacao in the south to Talamban in the north of Cebu City.
Phase 1 of the project has three packages.
Package 1 comprises four bus stations from the Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT) to the Capitol area, along Osmeña Boulevard.
Package 2 and 3 involve the establishment of trunk services from the SRP to CSBT via the Natalio Bacalso Avenue, and from Capitol to IT Park with terminals at SRP and IT Park.
When completed, the Cebu BRT project will be able to deploy 250 buses that can carry 60,000 passengers daily.