Chan: Mass transit a must to spread out development

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu is in dire need of an efficient mass transit system to disperse development to other parts of the province.

Ma. Teresa Chan, immediate past president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry said: “We really have to disperse development and the only way we can disperse it fast is through mass transit.”

In an interview, The FREEMAN asked Chan what infrastructure project Cebu really needs now amid its economic development.

Chan stressed that a mass transit system is something that should be prioritized and implemented as soon as possible. She said development needs to reach throughout Metro Cebu and even outside the metro area.

“We really need to have a masterplan for road network and mass transit system,” the CCCI former president said.

A Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project for Cebu has already been approved but has been delayed.

Earlier, Robert Go, Economic Development Committee chair of the Regional Development Council, lamented that the BRT’s actual implementation has taken so long.

It was reported in January that the procurement of materials and services for the P10.6-billion BRT project could start before the May 9 elections.

Officials said actual work on the project could start anytime this year.

In an interview last month, Go cited the lack of political will as the main reason why Cebu’s inefficient public transport system is what making it fall behind other countries like Singapore and Hong Kong.

Until now, despite Cebu’s economic growth, its commuters still rely on public utility jeepneys, which are of low quality, as the main mode of public transport.

Study

Furthermore, "Highway Network and Public Transport" is one of the sub-roadmaps in the Roadmap Study for Sustainable Urban Development in Metro Cebu that the Japan International Cooperation Agency concluded last year.

In a statement last November, JICA Philippine Chief Representative Noriaki Niwa said JICA hoped that the Philippine government would approve the roadmap in the same way it supported the Infrastructure Roadmap for Mega Manila.

JICA is expecting the future administrations to support the roadmap.

The other six sub-roadmaps in the study include: Metropolitan Competitiveness Enhancement, Urban Structure and Land Use; Water Supply, Storm Water and Wastewater Management; Solid Waste Management; Smart SRP (South Road Properties) Development; and Metropolitan Governance.

JICA urged stakeholders to immediately start working on flagship projects under the Metro Cebu roadmap. The JICA study identifies 10 flagship projects to be implemented until 2020 and 14 anchor programs to be executed until 2050.

Among the identified priority transit projects for Cebu include the BRT, conduct of a feasibility study on mass transit system, public transport terminal for Carcar City, construction of a dual mode bridge and widening of roads.  

But the implementation of these projects is a question of how committed the government is in actually pushing these projects and getting them implemented.

Go said Cebu needs “champions” and political will from government to realize the good infrastructure projects being planned for it. — (FREEMAN)