Dino says amidst alleged loan ban: BRT, monorail funds in place

CEBU, Philippines — Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino said yesterday that the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and monorail projects in Cebu will not be affected by the reported order of President Rodrigo Duterte not to accept financial aid from countries who signed the United Nation Human Rights Council's resolution that calls for an investigation into the country's illegal drugs campaign.

Dino told The Freeman that the funding for the BRT program here is already in place and the project will proceed as planned. Meanwhile, the monorail project is reportedly funded privately.

"BRT funding is ready and monorail funding is from private," Dino said. The Cebu BRT project is funded out of a loan from the World Bank.

Mark Richmond de Leon, undersecretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure of the Department of Transportation, also said the same thing as the BRT loan funding is already existing and the monorail project is an unsolicited proposal, which will be funded by a private company.

"So, these two projects will not be affected at all whatever issues surrounding the UNHTC resolution," said De Leon, who is also the DOTr representative for the Visayas.

Duterte has reportedly issued a memorandum ordering all departments to suspend negotiations for loans and grants from countries that voted for the UNHRC resolution that was proposed by Iceland.

Eighteen countries are supporting the resolution, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Fiji, Iceland, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay.

Since the memorandum only covers loans and grants still being negotiated or about to be signed, signed agreements are not affected.

Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo has already denied that Duterte issued such memorandum.

De Leon said earlier that DOTr has expanded and improved the routes of the BRT system from originally only traversing Cebu City to now including some routes in Talisay City.

De Leon stressed that that there is no shortening and no realignment of the BRT routes and that the new BRT system has improved the reliability and coverage of the service through its continuous exclusive carriageway and extension of its feeder services.

De Leon said the original 21.58-kilometer plan has expanded to 39.88 kilometers.

Under this revised BRT routes, there will be 84 bus stops instead of 20 bus stops from the original plan.

De Leon said Phase 1 of the BRT system will be partially operational before December 2021.

He also said that the budget remains at P16 Billion for the BRT System alone, which the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has already approved.

Meanwhile, in an earlier interview, Manuel Jamonir, vice president for operations of Udenna Infrastructure Corporation, said that if the monorail project will be awarded to them, they will be constructing two monorails – from Talisay City to Talamban, Cebu City called the Central Line and the Airport Line, which will traverse Cebu City, Mandaue City, and Lapu-Lapu City (airport).

The two lines, which is seen to carry 700,000 passengers a day, will have a combined cost of around P80 billion and this is a Private-Public-Partnership.

Jamonir added that they opted for monorails for Metro Cebu instead of an LRT since the roads are narrow and cheaper to maintain.

"Our proposal is still pending with NEDA for evaluation," Jamonir said yesterday when sought for updates on the project.

DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade has said the Integrated Intermodal System (IITS) will be partially operational in Cebu by the end of the fourth quarter of 2021.

This IITS will include bikeways, intermodal terminals, park and drive facilities, monorail, cable cars, and BRT.

"We are working together for the partial operability of Integrated Intermodal Transport System in the Province of Cebu. We are all committed in achieving that at the earliest end of the fourth quarter of 2021," Tugade said in an earlier interview.

Tugade expects that the IITS projects will be completed two to three years after 2021.

Tugade said they want Cebuanos to start experiencing the comfort of having an IITS, which is long overdue.

"The President (Rodrigo Duterte) has instructed us to make sure that the people of Cebu will enjoy the comfort of the IITS," Tugade said.

Dino has been pushing for urban realm development to modernize the Cebuanos’ mobility with the monorail as the backbone of IITS.

De Leon said they are not just looking at one project to solve traffic congestion in Metro Cebu but will implement different projects not just for the motorists but for the pedestrians.

"We are not looking for a single solution to address traffic congestion as we all know there is no single bullet for this problem of congestion, it should be a basket of solutions," De Leon earlier said.

Dino said that he is glad that the private sector is bullish in investing on a massive infrastructure project that aims to solve Metro Cebu's traffic problem. —  JMO (FREEMAN)