‘Neda to decide on BRT’s fate next week’

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said that the National Economic Development Authority’s Investment Coordination Committee (Neda-ICC) will meet next week to finally decide whether or not to implement thed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Cebu City,

Pernia, who is the Neda secretary general, was in Cebu yesterday for the Philippine Economic Briefing initiated by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

“I am proposing a meeting with ICC and Cabinet Committee. Part of the agenda is BRT and other specific projects,” he said.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña has been pushing for the implementation of the BRT project to help solve the city’s traffic problem.

Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino, how Perez ever, said that a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system is better than the BRT. A consortium of Chinese and local firms have already submitted a proposal for the project.

Pernia, however, said that the implementation of the LRT project will still take a long time.

He said that its feasibility study alone will take about a year. Its approval process may take another year and the construction proper may take 10 years.

For the BRT, Pernia said that its implementation has already been given a go signal by Neda.

“We already approved it way back in 2016. We even increased the price from nine billion pesos to P16 billion,” he said.

Asked if BRT can be scrapped, Pernia said: “I don’t know if we can stop it. That’s why we have to discuss it.”

Pernia said he doesn’t know the status of the BRT project at present. /