Bus terminal’s transfer
IT'S AN interesting idea that is an offshoot to the land swap deal that the Cebu City Government and the Cebu Provincial Government are about to consummate. Meant to solve the Capitol's problem with Ordinance 93-1 beneficiaries, the land swap involves the Province giving up its ownership of 93-1 lots in exchange for some Cebu City lots that include 2.5-hectares at the South Road Properties (SRP).
Gov. Hilario Davide III himself raised the possibility that the Cebu South Bus Terminal located along Natalio Bacalso Ave. could be transferred to the SRP lot. Considering the current situation at the south bus terminal, wherever the swapped lot is located would be an improvement from its presently cramped site.
The south bus terminal, like the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill of old, is a component of the Metro Cebu Development Project (MCDP) in the '90s. But like the Inayawan facility, the city's growth has outstripped its viability. With the increasing number of public utility vehicles and people using the south bus terminal, it obviously is in need of reinvention. A transfer would be good.
What is a downer is the governor's own pronouncement that the project is not in the list of priorities for this year. Even then, a feasibility study should already be put in place in conjunction with the city government's plans for the SRP. Note that the transfer of the terminal is not as easy as bringing the buses and other vehicles now using the south bus terminal to the SRP.
For now, the SRP is largely undeveloped, with its road network largely undefined. Except for the private bus company serving customers of SM Seaside City mall, no other public utility vehicles are plying the routes from the SRP to the city proper. Connecting routes need to be developed if the south bus terminal is transferred to the SRP. You don't drop the passengers in virtually a nowhere land.
Still, the transfer of the south bus terminal is among the interesting ideas to come out from the Province as the land swap deal is about to be consummated.