No BRT-LRT Showdown

Thursday, 19 November 2009

THE expected showdown between proponents of the mass-rail transit and bus rapid transit (BRT) projects in Metro Cebu at the Regional Development Council (RDC) meeting will not happen, as the two projects have not been lined up for discussion.

National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Central Visayas director Marlene Rodriguez told the BusinessMirror that the two projects have not been scheduled for discussion in the council’s infrastructure development committee and could not be taken  up in the full council.



“These were the agreed rules. There will be no project that will be discussed in the full council without going through the sectoral committees,” she said.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he will attend the RDC meeting next month and brief the members on the city-backed BRT system.

He accused the proponents of the P27-billion, 12-kilometer mass rail project of trying to railroad the project to generate cash for the upcoming elections. He vowed to file graft charges against members of the RDC who will endorse the mass rail project.

Rodriguez, however, said even though the projects get the endorsement of the RDC, they will still go through the infrastructure coordinating committee (ICC) of Neda, which will weigh the financial viability of the projects.

“I do not think Neda-ICC will approve a project that will not be viable,” Rodriguez said.

Neda Central Visayas said that of the four cities and six towns that will be affected by the mass-rail project, only Cebu City sent its formal stand on the project—unequivocally rejecting it.

The [Cebu] City Council, in a resolution, endorsed the BRT. The council claimed the proponents of the mass rail project did not go through consultations in the city despite Cebu City having 95 percent of the identified ridership of the project.

“The (Cebu) City government would like to invoke the very basic mandate ingrained in the Local Government Code in pursuit of local autonomy that no development project, be it national or local, shall be implemented unless the LGU has been properly and officially consulted and its concurrence approved,” the resolution read.

The World Bank is already financing a $355,000 technical assistance study on the BRT through the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory facility.

Another BRT study worth $500,000, this time to study a BRT line through the South Road Properties, is being funded through the Cities Development Initiative for Asia for the Asian Development Bank  and the Swedish International Development Agency.

Another P32-million study to create a public transportation strategic plan for Metro Cebu is also being bid out by the Department of Transportation and Communications.