City, Tranzen GI sign MOU for multi-billion LRT project

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña (center) and Salvador Zamora ll, chairman, CEO Tranzen Group, Inc. (2nd from left) lead the signing of the MOU for the proposed multi-billion LRT project. With them are (from left) lawyer Carlos Ocampo, Tranzen Group Inc. Managing Director Eldon Cruz and City Administrator Nigel Paul Villarete. CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO

Officials from the Tranzen Group Inc. and their counterparts from the Cebu City Government, signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) yesterday, for the pre-investment study of the proposed Light Rail Transit (LRT).

Present during the ceremonial signing at the Grand Convention Center were Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, City Administrator Nigel Paul Villarete, Tranzen Group Inc. Managing Director Edlon Cruz and its CEO and chairman, Salvador Zamora II, and lawyer Carlos Ocampo from the Ocampo and Manalo Law Firm.

It can be recalled that the Cebu City Council, on October 2017, authorized Osmeña to enter into a MOU for the LRT project, which will be composed of five lines or routes.

Cruz announced that the Cebu City Government will “not spend a single centavo” for the project’s implementation, but is expected to provide assistance in field survey activities, securing traffic data and consultations with barangays and stakeholders.

He also said that among the objectives of their study was to determine which properties will be affected once implementation starts.

“We target (to conduct the study) within 11 months. There will be a series of consultations to be made, especially to the Province of Cebu, Talisay City Government, the Mandaue City Government, and the Municipal Government of Consolacion,” explained Cruz.

He added that in 2015, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) estimated the entire project cost to reach P80 billion.

Osmeña, in a separate interview, said that the LRT will serve as a complementary mass transit system alongside the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).

“It’s complementary. The LRT can go side-by-side with the BRT. Unlike with Dino (Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino), you know, what he wants is to cancel the BRT in exchange for his LRT. You ask me if I’ll cancel the BRT? The answer is no,” he said.

Dino also proposed for an LRT project with a subway component early last year to replace the BRT.

Design

Meanwhile, the proposed design of Line 1 of Tranzen’s LRT will have a track spanning 21 kilometers and traversing the cities of Talisay, Cebu, Mandaue and the town of Consolacion.

Line 1 will have 15 stations, 13 of them above-ground while the remaining two will be underground. The presentation created by Tranzen Group Inc. also showed that it will be operational for 17 hours daily, from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., with a 30-minute interval for every trip.

Tranzen Group Inc. proposed to have an LRT as a mass transit option due to the growing population and congestion in the main thoroughfares of Metro Cebu.

“It has been noted that Metro Cebu is experiencing rapid motorization and an increasing population, leading to the congestion of its transport network, the most congested artery of which is from Talisay City, Cebu City, Mandaue City, and to Consolacion, traversing the Cebu South Road, N. Bacalso, P. Del Rosario, M.J. Cuenco, and the Cebu North Road, necessitating the establishment of a mass transit system along the corridor,” the MOU document stated.