Subway component, a must for mass transit

CEBU, Philippines —  If there is a light rail transit project to be implemented in Cebu City, a subway component should be incorporated in the design so that it will not compete with the existing narrow roads.

This is stipulated in the resolution of City Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia which was approved by the City Council during the June 26 regular session.

After a 30-minute discussion, Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella broke the 7-7 tie since there was an objection from City Councilor Eugenio Gabuya, Jr.

"The Sanggunian believes that a Light Rail Transit with an underground component which does not compete with current vehicular traffic on our existing roads is one of the solutions to the problem," reads a portion of resolution of Garcia.

Garcia believe that the best solution to the city's traffic problem is a mass transportation that will not compete with the city's existing narrow roads.

He said feasibility studies for an LRT project in the city have been initiated.

City Councilor Margarita Osmeña said there are other mass transportation like the Bus Rapid Transit project and the monorail project that the legislative can support.

"It seems that we are zeroing in on, maybe, a particular supplier," Osmeña said.

Garcia said the resolution is not conclusive and he just wants to pass it to let the private proponents know that the City Council's general statement is to have a subway component if there's LRT.

He said he is not supporting a particular supplier since there are several proponents that want to undertake LRT project.

As of now, there are two proponents of the LRT project - the Chinese-Singaporean consortium that proposed P155-Billion LRT project for Metro Cebu with a subway component and TRANZEN Group Inc. which is currently doing the feasibility study for the project.

Another mass transportation is proposed by Philtram Transportation Consortium Corp. which is on its final stage on the feasibility study for a monorail transit project in the city.

Gabuya said the City Council should wait until these proponents will finish conducting the feasibility study.

"We have to let them finish the feasibility study before we express our support because it's hard to support if there's no feasibility study," he said.

Garcia said the resolution is just a suggestion for the existing proponents or would-be proponents of a mass transportation in the city. — MBG (FREEMAN)