IDC backs bid for Metro Cebu LRT

CEBU, Philippines - The Infrastructure Development Committee of the Regional Development Council in Central Visayas supports the administration’s plan to build a Light Railway Transit (LRT) in Metro Cebu.

While nothing concrete has been presented to regional stakeholders regarding the project, IDC Chair Glenn Soco, who is at the same time president of Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stressed the LRT project is something the RDC as a whole would really want to pursue.

"As to where it is and the status of it (LRT project), it needs a follow through," Soco told The FREEMAN in an interview last Friday.

Earlier, based on reports, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said the government received an unsolicited proposal from a South Korean company to build an LRT in Metro Cebu that would boost development and provide an alternative transport for workers and businesses.

Citing Metro Cebu as an attractive metropolitan area, Pernia said putting more infrastructure in Cebu would draw in more investors and businesses. 

As in any public projects, the proposed Cebu LRT will need to be evaluated by the National Economic and Development Authority Technical Board, forwarded to the NEDA-Investment Coordination Committee and to the NEDA Board for final approval by the President.

The planned LRT system will also complement the P10.6-billion Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project that is funded by the World Bank.

The 16-kilometer Cebu BRT, which includes the construction of bus ways bus stations and other facilities, stretches from Bulacao to Talamban.

Cebu is in dire need of quality, fast and reliable mass transit systems to decongest its main roads where traffic is getting worse due to the increasing car volume.

Cebu's low quality and unreliable mass transport, the jeepneys, has not been able to keep up with the demands of Cebu's rising economic and increasing population.

The increasing volume of vehicles plying inadequate roads and highways in the metropolis has contributed to the traffic woes.

Developing a highway network and public transport are among the seven sub-roadmaps in the Roadmap Study for Sustainable Urban Development in Metro Cebu by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

The Metro Cebu Roadmap was initiated in 2013 by Metro Cebu Development and Coordinating Board, JICA, and Yokohama City in Japan to attain the Mega Cebu Vision 2050.

The blueprint study has seven sub-road maps: Metropolitan Competitiveness Enhancement; Urban Structure and Land Use; Highway Network and Public Transport; Water Supply, Storm Water and Wastewater Management; Solid Waste Management; Smart SRP (South Road Properties) Development; and Metropolitan Governance. (FREEMAN)