JICA seeks ways to improve Metro Cebu’s transport system

CEBU, Philippines -  Japan International Cooperation Agency is looking into how to further the road transport system in Metro Cebu.

JICA met with government agencies and other stakeholders to get inputs on  urban transport requirements of Metro Cebu, National Economic and Development Authority Regional Head Efren Carreon told The FREEMAN yesterday.

Today, JICA is doing a final wrap-up meeting on its Urban Transport Mission in Cebu City with Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, Carreon and Gordon Alan Joseph, chair of the Metro Cebu Development Coordinating Board (MCDCB).

"This will come up with scope of work after this. But they will study on how to improve the road transport in the metro area and may also include recommendations on the need for transport system and mode," Carreon further said.

He added that the JICA mission also seeks to study the "transportation requirements" of Metro Cebu, as part of the Roadmap Study for Sustainable Development in Metro Cebu that JICA concluded in 2015.

Developing a highway network and public transport are among the seven sub-roadmaps in the roadmap study.

The Metro Cebu Roadmap was initiated in 2013 by MCDCB, 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.

There has been a public clamor to build an efficient and reliable mass transport system in Cebu, being the most urbanized city outside Metro Manila.

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. (FREEMAN)