Urban transport study for Cebu done March

CEBU, Philippines — The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is looking to complete its urban transport study for Metro Cebu by March this year.

In a press statement yesterday, Mega Cebu, a private-public sustainable urban development group, said that the Metro Cebu Urban Transport Master Plan (MCUTMP) will be finalized by March 2019 based on the comments received during the seminar, as well as from joint working group and steering committee meeting with JICA held last January 23.

JICA has been conducting the study since July 2017 in collaboration with the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

The JICA study aims to identify priority projects, conduct a pilot project and implement a pre-feasibility study for some priority projects to be included in the master plan.

The master plan also seeks to strengthen the capacity of Metro Cebu agencies responsible for urban transportation, particularly in areas of planning, implementation, and coordination.

Mega Cebu said the first capacity development seminars for the study were held in March 2018, which covered transport planning, urban planning, traffic management, mobility management. A pre-study for the study visit to Japan was also done in May 2018.

The JICA further hosted relevant workshops and seminars to the pilot projects, such as local public transport route plan and traffic signal control.

The last capacity development seminar, which was done on January 22, sought to clarify the strategies for traffic management by local government units including financial aspects, as well as implementation of integrated urban and transport planning through Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) in accordance with MCUTMP.

Earlier, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Antonio Chiu reiterated the business sector’s call to implement the much-needed infrastructure to solve Cebu’s traffic congestion and other transport woes.

Kenneth Cobonpue, chair of the Regional Development Council in Central Visayas, also echoed this saying a mass transport system is among the urgent projects that Cebu really needs now.

The DOTr had earlier announced that it targets to start works on the planned projects such as the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) within this year.

Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works and Highways had targeted the full construction of the 73.75 kilometer Metro Cebu Ex¬press¬way to take off this year. It aims to connect Danao City in the north to Naga City in the south to decongest traffic in the metropolitan area and cut travel time by an hour.

The Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corp. (CCLEC) of the Metro Pacific Group is also on track with the construction of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway, eyed to decongest traffic as well once completed. (FREEMAN)