Dino
CEBU LRT
DESPITE expressing no intentions to block the US$3-billion Cebu Light Rail Transit (LRT), Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña challenged Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino to be more transparent about the project.
Osmeña’s statements came a day after the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV), in a post on its Facebook page, questioned anew the validity of the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).
“Conditions for BRT in Cebu City to proceed do not exist,” the OPAV said in its post, without elaborating.
This prompted Osmeña, who has been lobbying for the P17-billion BRT project since the 1990s, to renew his dare for Dino to engage him in a debate.
“He would not debate me in public. He will only issue fake news. I challenge him to debate me in public. Do not mislead the Cebuanos,” said Osmeña during his press conference at the Cebu City Hall yesterday.
“The more he talks the more he refuses to expose himself, the more he is not being transparent. And (with) that, he only wants to do is to stop the BRT. That’s his only agenda. He has nothing to offer. Storya lang (Just talks). How come he will not face me in a debate?” he added.
On the other hand, the mayor slammed Dino once again for denying any involvement on the LRT project which roughly costs P155 billion.
“Of course he is! You all know that. He keeps talking about it. No one in the whole universe knows anything about it except Mr. Dino,” Osmeña said.
In a statement sent to Cebu Daily News on Monday, April 16, Dino’s legal counsel, lawyer Josie Antonette Uy, clarified that her client and the OPAV do not have any involvement in the project.
“’I’m not involved?’ There’s people in Singapore who want to study about it and nobody knows about it. But Mr. Dino’s not involved?” Osmeña added.
Last Sunday, April 15, it was revealed that a Chinese-led consortium was already formed to construct the LRT this 2022.
Chris Kou, the proponent’s head and representative, said on a statement sent to reporters that they are also coordinating closely with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for its fruition.
The fourth mass transportation alternative proposed for Metro Cebu will traverse from Carcar City in the south up to Danao City in the north.
DOTr also happened to be the implementing agency of the BRT, which recently hit another snag after it sacked 13 of its 40 workers of the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) last March.
BRT was supposed to be operational by 2016 but its completion date was pushed back to 2021, or five years later, due to multiple delays.
Even if he denied involvement of the LRT proposal, it can be recalled that Dino has been lobbying for one since 2016, stating that it is a “better alternative than the BRT.”
Meanwhile, Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera welcomed the recent LRT proposal which will be implemented at no cost to the government.
“The LRT project is a very welcome idea as long as it serves its purpose which is to decongest traffic. I believe that for the LRT to be successful, it must involve the entire Metro Cebu and does not focus on a specific City unlike the BRT,” Garganera said in a text message sent to Cebu Daily News.
“Our traffic problems does not involve vehicles from Cebu City only, but also those from other LGUs. Moreover, I hope this project is not dependent on who’s in position. It is time that we support great and beneficial projects and not who is in position,” he added.
The proposed LRT will have Tjen Hian Ka, a Singapore-based architect and senior director of SAA Group of Architects, one of the largest architectural firms in Southeast Asia, as its senior consultant.