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Cebu City officials will wait for the completion of the feasibility study on the Bus Rapid Transport System (BRT) before deciding whether or not to support the proposed Light Railway Transit (LRT) system in the city and the rest of Metro Cebu.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña reiterated this yesterday, a day after his outburst during a presentation of the LRT system by project proponents before Metro Cebu officials and officials of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) in a Cebu City Hotel over the weekend.
Osmeña asked if the LRT system would affect the city goverment's application for international funding for its BRT project, which he was endorsing to solve the city?s traffic woes.
He had even campaigned for BRT coverage of Metro Cebu in tandem with their development of the city's South Road Properties (SRP).
Osmeña also cited the comparative costs between the BRT and the LRT.
?The project will cost $600 million or about P30 billion. Who will pay this? The Cebuanos of course. Do you think some outsider will come to Cebu and spend P30 billion because they love us?? Osmeña asked.
According to a University of the Philippines (UP) study, the LRT system would cost about P40 million per kilometer while the BRT system would cost only P15 million per kilometer.
Cebu City Planning and Development Officer Nigel Paul Villarete said they will wait for the DOTC's answers to the concerns raised by the mayor.
He said the LRT system should conform with the city's urban development policy on ?sustainable urban mobility.?
Among others, the proposed LRT system should also reduce the car use metro wide and provide cheap transportation to the riding public, Villarete said.
?This assurance (should not only be confined to a) DOTC guarantee but also in reference to their medium-term public investment program and the BRT inclusion in their submission to the country investment program of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) donors,? he said.
Villarete pointed out that the proposal for the LRT project still needs validation since their home interview survey done in 1980 and their 1990 origin-destination surveys (ODS) don?t reflect ridership estimates.
He also chided Rep. Eduard Gullas of Cebu?s 1st district for questioning the BRT even if the results of the BRT feasibility study financed by both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank at nearly $1 million had yet to be completed.
Villarete said it is not a choice between the BRT and the LRT since the DOTC budgeted P32 million for a strategic public transportation plan and selected BRT pre-feasibility studies for Metro Cebu.
?What they presented yesterday (last Saturday) is to add LRT to Metro Cebu. It will not replace BRT,? Villarete said.
Villarete said it is important for the cities and municipalities within Metro Cebu to express interest in the BRT system so it would be included in the feasibility studies.
?Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu already showed interest. The DOTC selected FS would probably cover routes there as well. If Talisay wishes, the DOTC study could cover those routes as well. But so far, there has been a very deafening silence,? Villarete said.
