THE budget for lot acquisition for the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (CBRT) project has reportedly nearly doubled, swelling from P900 million to P1.7 billion, because of procurement delays and increasing property costs.
The stalled land acquisition has prompted the City Government to consider expropriation — a process by which a government takes private property for public use — to secure the needed road right of way (RROW), Mayor Nestor Archival said on Wednesday, July 16, 2025.
The issue was a central topic during a meeting on Tuesday with the CBRT proponent and the contractor for the project’s Package 1, which has a length of 2.38 kilometers from Cebu South Bus Terminal on N. Bacalso Ave. to the uptown area near the Capitol building.
Archival said that of the 55 lot owners affected, only 25 have agreed to sell their properties during negotiations. For those unwilling to come to an agreement, expropriation is now a serious consideration.
If the expropriation process pushes through, the City Government would file a case and deposit at least 15 percent of the lot’s assessed value in a bank, allowing it to gain immediate possession. A 2016 memorandum of agreement tasks the City with facilitating the land purchases, while the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has provided the funding.
A separate challenge is the contractor’s failure to meet a promised June 30 deadline for Package 1.
The contractor, Chinese firm Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Group Ltd., clarified to the mayor that its contractual deadline is Aug. 11, thus pushing the project’s trial run to August.
However, Archival questioned why the firm had previously committed to the June 30 date, suggesting the contractor may have been “forced to agree” due to existing delays.
The missed deadline had earlier prompted the mayor to announce on July 13 that he would move to blacklist the firm from future City Government contracts.
The contractor expressed concern over Archival’s pronouncement, fearing it would draw notice from the Chinese consul. The mayor did not mention the diplomat’s name; however, the current Chinese consul general in Cebu is Zhang Zhen.
A walkthrough of the project site scheduled for Thursday afternoon did not push through. / EHP