BRT fate up to Duterte

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City government is now leaving up to President Rodrigo Duterte the fate of the P16.3-billion Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project after the World Bank vouched for its viability despite the recommendation of the Department of Transportation and Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino to cancel it.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña said it is now the national government’s call whether to push through with the implementation of the long-overdue project or give in to the pressures from DOTr and Dino.

“So now, it’s in the hands of the Philippine government, it’s in the hands of our president. So, will the president support Michael Dino on this? I don’t know, let’s find out,” Osmeña told reporters.

Dino and DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade recommended before the National Economic Development Authority-Investment Coordination Committee to cancel BRT citing the city’s narrow roads, among other reasons.

As of now, NEDA-ICC is waiting for the DOTr to submit more robust evidence to support its recommendation and submit an alternative proposal for Cebu if the project will be canceled. Tugade has been saying that Cebu’s traffic problem needs a “basket of solutions.”

Osmeña said DOTr cannot come up with a project like BRT that can be implemented in two years.

“They offer an empty basket, as what Tugade was offering an empty basket, kini we’re going to give a basket of solutions, hoy gising it’s an empty basket, there’s nothing there,” the mayor said.

City Administrator Nigel Paul Villarete, point person of the BRT project in the city, said he agrees on the implementation of “basket of solutions” to address the mobility problem in the city. However, Villarete, who is an urban planner, said the government should take into consideration the kinds of solutions that will be placed in the “basket of solutions.”

“We experience congestion simply because we failed in providing the proper or better transportation systems to provide that service. Traffic is not the problem but a symptom of the real problem - that of mobility,” he said.

Villarete said the “basket of solutions” should refer to the kinds of public transportations that are inter-connected networks and systems that feed on and support each other. He said there are two corridors in Metro Cebu that stand up in terms of the ridership; one is the Talisay City to Mandaue Corridor and the second is the Barangay Bulacao to Barangay Talamban corridor. The second corridor is where the 23-kilometer BRT will run.

Villarete said the two corridors do not compete but serves different ridership or passengers.

He said there were four light rail transit studies done for Talisay City to Mandaue City corridor from 1992 to 2006 but none of these studies have passed NEDA-ICC. As of now, he said there are currently three more studies being done on the same corridor, all still studies, all not completed, and will still need to pass NEDA.

The three studies being done by separate private entities are monorail project, and two proposals for light rail transit project on the same corridor. While there are seven studies conducted for the Talisay City to Mandaue City corridor, the Bulacao to Talamban corridor is uncontested since there are no other studies aside from the BRT project. Villarete said public mass transportation works best when there are no competing solutions fighting for ridership.

“A basket of solutions means two systems can co-exist in two different corridors, in fact in synergy, feeding on each other. But of the three studies being done along Talisay to Mandaue now, only one will prevail, only one can be accepted by DOTr and bid out for challenge. The question now is which one finishes first and which one will be accepted first, and much later, which proposal will win. Your guess is as good as mine,” he said. — FPL (FREEMAN)