Still a go

Despite delay, BRT project focuses on resettling those affected by road ROW

BRT project manager Rafael Christopher Yap hopes the City Council will fasttrack the approval of the MOA for the lot acquisition and resettlement Department of Transportation has allocated P1.3 billion for these purposes

DESPITE the delay in its full implementation, other component activities of the P10.6-billion Cebu Bus Rapid Project (BRT) will continue.

This is what Rafael Christopher Yap assured the public after he met with officials of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the World Bank (WB) yesterday to discuss resettlement policies and guidelines in the implementation of the project.

“The track for resettlement activity is independent from all other activities. It may be one of the activities leading to the construction, but it can proceed independently, not withstanding any problem that will be encountered regarding the consultant,” Yap said.

Yap is project manager of BRT.

As this developed, he is also hopeful that the City Council will fast-track the approval of the proposed memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the lot acquisition and resettlement.

The MOA will be signed by Mayor Tomas Osmeña as chief executive of the City Government and DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade.

DOTr has allocated P1.3 billion for the lot acquisition and resettlement.

Reason for delay

Since there are national roads which will be affected by the project, the Department of Public Works and Highways has already committed to support it.

Under the proposed MOA, the City is mandated to create a committee on lot acquisition under the Office of the Mayor with members of the DOTr and the Commission on Audit.

The City will also adopt the parcellary plan prepared by DOTr identifying the areas that will be acquired and prepare the program of works and estimates, timetable for the lot acquisition and the proposed cash flow, among others.

The proposed MOA has been referred to the committee on transportation for comments and recommendations.

Once it’s approved, Yap

said the lot acquisition and resettlement can start.

Earlier, it was reported that the implementation of the BRT project will be stalled for a year after the previous administration reportedly failed to sign the project’s consultancy contract.

Osmeña revealed this after a representative of WB informed him about the matter and said that a rebidding on the consultancy might have to be done, which would cause another delay.

New guidelines

Yap explained that the resettlement along the areas where the road right-of-way (ROW) for the project will be established is necessary, that is why they need to come up with a set of guidelines.

Yap is hopeful that the procurement for the road ROW will start before the year ends or in early 2017.

Aside from resettlement, Yap said they also discussed the suggestion that the government will just give cash out to those who will be affected instead of taking care of their transfer.

However, the matter has yet to be decided.

Although the project will run from Bulacao in the south to Talamban in the north, the first phase of the 16-kilometer project will start with the construction of bus ways, bus stations and other facilities on Osmeña Blvd.

It will use the area from Fuente Osmeña to the Provincial Capitol.

Once in place, it will have 33 bus stations with 176 buses and is projected to serve 330,000 passengers daily.