No BRT talks on Duterte’s visit

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña does not plan to discuss the status of the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project with President Rodrigo Duterte while he is in Cebu today.

Even if he was invited to attend several functions with the President, Osmeña said he will not bother him with any concern.

“I don’t bother the President unless it’s scheduled. I don’t make sip-sip,” he said.

The implementation of the BRT has been delayed due to the failure to hire the technical service consultants (TSC) for the project.

The National Economic and Development Authority Investment Coordination Committee has asked the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to award the contract for the TSC, who will be tasked to review the project.

Before that, DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade and Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino recommended to cancel the BRT, saying Cebu City’s narrow roads will make the BRT inefficient.

But Osmeña argued that the BRT project has been thoroughly studied by experts and should push through.

“So I can say that it’s feasible. It has defects but it’s okay. The BRT will address the problem of the ordinary commuter,” he said.

Meanwhile, Osmeña welcomed the result of the feasibility study done by a private consultant, which showed that monorail is the ideal mode of mass transport for Cebu.

He said he does not intend to block any project for Cebu, particularly those that improve transportation, but such a project should not be used to cancel the existing projects of the City.

The mayor was referring to Dino’s move to have the BRT cancelled.

Osmeña said, though, that he still has to read the result of the feasibility study.

“I have to listen to everything, that’s my job. I can’t make fast judgment on something I have not studied. We have to presume that all of them has something to offer,” Osmeña said.

Dino, for his part, said that he will support the proposed monorail transit from Talisay City to Mandaue City, “which is seen to modernize the transport system in Metro Cebu.”

The monorail, he said, is a more efficient transport system than the BRT.

“Its features are more suitable in Cebu, considering Cebu’s narrow roads, increasing population, and economic growth,” said Dino.

In a press statement, PhilTram Transportation Consortium Corp. said that the result of the feasibility study done by a private consultant they hired showed that the monorail, not a subway or Light Rail Transit (LRT), is the “perfect technology” and more affordable option for Cebu.

PhilTram chief technology architect Jose Guardo said that using a subway will make the project “pro-rich and anti-poor.”

The proposed monorail is expected to ferry at least 280,000 passengers every day on a 16-kilometer corridor from the cities of Mandaue to Talisay at a fare of P10.

“(Moreover), a monorail will take only two years to construct. LRT needs at least four years and a subway, six years. If we want to end immediately the suffering of the commuters, monorail is the perfect technology for Metro Cebu,” Guardo said.

Feasibility