Are they sure about cancelling the BRT project?

BAÑOC

The National Economic Development Authority Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC) tasked a Technical Service Consultant (TSC) to reevaluate the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Cebu within 10 days. Hopefully, the TSC would give a sincere result of the study.

What if the BRT project would be cancelled following the recommendation of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade and Presidential Adviser for the Visayas Michael Dino? What would happen next?

Noteworthy is the fact that Cebu City has been facing a tragic traffic problem. It is not debatable anymore that such problem needs an urgent solution. One has to be hopelessly blind to be unable to notice it. So what would be the alternative to BRT?

The recommendation letter of the two high ranking officials to Secretary of Finance Carlos Dominguez mentions of “a replacement project superior to BRT,” although such alternative is not specified therein, absent a feasibility study that would back the claim up insofar as Cebu setting is concerned.

So how long will the alternative project would be realized? How long will it take to identify or specify its superiority to BRT project? How long will it take for a feasibility study to support that said project is “superior” to BRT?

Assuming that the Light Rail Transit (LRT) is the one being referred to as “superior,” considering that Dino mentioned such project in the news, so when will that project be implemented? If BRT project amounting to P16 B took more than 10 years before getting a go signal for its implementation, how long would it possibly take for a P155 billion worth LRT project to be given the signal to take off?

Can Dino and Tugade assure the Cebuanos that the feasibility study alone could be done in the next two years? Can they assure that the LRT project would be implemented and finished within the remaining years of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration?

If the answer to each of these questions is “yes,” then there is nothing to worry about. After all, the people who continue to experience the terrible traffic congestion just want a traffic solution that can be introduced as soon as possible.

The calamity would happen if the answer is the contrary or “no’. If the feasibility study would take a long time and the project will not be finished or even started within the remaining years of the Duterte administration, then it would end with great regrets.

This scenario will make the stand of Tugade and Dino very risky to the Cebuanos. Why scrap a major project that is about to be implemented this year? Why not take the safest way? Why not implement the BRT project now while they continue finding ways to realize the LRT project also?

Is it hard for Dino and Tugade to lend their ears to the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and to the experts who say that BRT and LRT can complement each other? Are they sincere in their opposition to the BRT or they just don’t like the major proponent of the project, Mayor Tomas Osmena?

After the term of President Duterte, where can we find Tugade and Dino? When that day comes, will they face the people with pride? Or will they just go back to concentrating on their respective businesses and hide from the public eye? Cebuanos are worried because, even today, Dino is not accessible to the broadcast media, maybe except to his few friends.

I agree with the CCCI observation that Cebu is in a crisis situation. Hence, it calls all sectors of society to set aside political differences and work together to solve the traffic problems in Cebu.

The reasons raised by Dino and Tugade in their opposition to the BRT such as narrow streets in Cebu City, difficulty in securing road right of way, a huge increase in the number of vehicles in the last three years, etcetera are valid and worth discussing. In fact, these had been discussed repeatedly long before.

However, the timing of their recommendation of stopping the project when it is already on the stage of implementation is not good, to say the least.

After all, said project has passed the thorough scrutiny of the loan grantors, World Bank, and concerned government agencies.