NEDA says BRT is still a go: No LRT in the pipeline

CEBU, Philippines — Contrary to what its proponent has claimed, the proposed P155-billion Light Rail Transit for Metro Cebu is not among the projects scheduled to be approved by the National Economic Development Authority anytime soon.

NEDA Secretary Ernesto Pernia yesterday said the LRT has to go through a long process – possibly years – before it gets approval.

Pernia’s remarks ran counter to that of Chris Kou, a representative from the Chinese-Singaporean consortium proposing the project, who said in a press statement on Sunday that they were expecting to finish the process with the Department of Transportation this year and that construction could begin as early as next year.

Yesterday, the DOTr said it was still waiting for the Tjen Hian Ka-led consortium to submit its second unsolicited proposal after the agency found the first one to be “deficient.”

“There was an unsolicited proposal for the LRT. There were deficiencies. The feasibility studies were incomplete and may be considered as pre-feasibility study,” DOTr assistant secretary Mark Steven Pastor told reporters.

“Aside from that, the unsolicited proposal should not in any way include government guarantor. Those were the issues,” he added.

Pastor and Pernia were among the guests at yesterday’s briefing on the Philippine economy at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel in Cebu City.

Pastor said the DOTr has informed the consortium of the deficiencies, but he clarified that the unsolicited proposal on LRT has not been turned down because the proponent can always make another offer if it wants to.

If indeed it chooses to make another pitch, the road to approval proves to be winding.

Once the proposal is tendered at the DOTr, the proponent will then secure an original proponent status from the department, and the latter will also review all submitted documents.

If the documents clear with the agency, they will then be submitted to NEDA for a series of inter-agency technical evaluations before being referred to the NEDA-Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee (ICC-CC), and finally to the NEDA board.

Assuming the board approves the proposal, a Swiss Challenge will be done to allow other proponents to challenge it.

“I don’t know what stage it (LRT) is. I have not seen the full feasibility study. I have seen partial, pre-feasibility study,” Pernia said.

“That will take a long time. Feasibility study, one year. It will go through the process maybe another year. So matagal yun. And construction is maybe 10 years,” he added.

Pernia said that based on experience, the possibility of the Metro Cebu LRT getting implemented by next year remains remote, especially since they still have to take into account the project’s economic internal rate of return.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, who was present at the economic briefing yesterday, said Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino was “lying” about the status of the proposed LRT for the metro.

He believes that Dino had a hand in the Chinese-Singaporean consortium’s proposal to build the LRT.

“In 2017, Michael Dino already specified the budget for the LRT at P150 billion, identified the supplier as Chinese Singaporean, said the feasibility study was about to be submitted, and said it would be completed in four years. He has all this insider information and claims to not be involved?” Osmeña told The FREEMAN in a text message.

BRT fate

Over the last several months, the camps of Osmeña and Dino have been mired in a word war on the social media as to what mass transport system would be best for Metro Cebu, which is plagued by traffic congestions.

Between the BRT and LRT, Osmeña prefers the former saying it is faster to implement, modular, and far easier and cheaper to maintain.

Dino, however, contends that BRT will not be suitable for Cebu City because of its narrow roads.

Pastor yesterday begged off from answering questions related to the P16.3-billion Cebu BRT project.

But as far as Pernia is concerned, the project is already a go.

“My own taking is that we should go ahead with the BRT. BRT gives us 53 percent of economic internal rate of return,” he said.

While Pernia agrees that the LRT-subway, which may take about 10 to 15 years to complete, is the long-term solution to traffic, he said the BRT is the quickest solution.

“I think the Cebuanos want a relief from traffic. I think this (BRT) will be a relief,” he said, but stressing that the BRT and the LRT are not mutually exclusive, meaning the two can exist together.

Nevertheless, Pernia said the ICC, a seven-member committee, will hold a meeting on April 25 in which the BRT will figure in the agenda.

“I am proposing a meeting with the Investment Coordination Committee Cabinet Committee on the 25th. There are other projects we have to approve. This (BRT fate) will be part of the agenda,” he said.

As to the allegations that Dino has been lobbying for a delay or a stop to the BRT, Pernia said: “I don't want to make a judgment but I don't think so. He can't stop by himself. He is not part of the ICC.”  — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon (FREEMAN)