Politics blocking BRT

By all means let Cebu City Hall implement the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project if only to provide its residents a viable alternative mass transport option while the national government deliberates on its so-called “basket of solutions” for both the city and Metro Cebu in general.

That Transport Secretary Arturo Tugade made an about face and lent his support to the BRT even if half-hearted showed that the Department of Transportation (DOTR) failed to provide an immediate alternative to the project when pressed with a 10-day deadline by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) investment committee.

Anyone who’s monitored the developments in the BRT know that there are certain quarters that lobbied hard for its outright rejection while promising a solution that would likely take years to process and evaluate before it is implemented.

At most they succeeded in delaying the BRT implementation by a few years and inconveniencing the riding public who are fed up with their politicking antics and their online propaganda campaign against the project.

Then there are opposition councilors who have chided the local administration for even considering to implement the BRT by saying that such a project is best left to the private sector.

They conveniently forgot that the blueprint for actual construction and implementation of the project had been laid out years in advance long before they even mustered enough support to run for the council.

If they do accuse the incumbent leadership of not having the technical know-how to spearhead, let alone implement the project then what would the opposition have the city government do?

Would the opposition prefer to scrap the BRT altogether and let the administration sit on their hands and watch while the riding public gnash their teeth in anger and endure the lack of viable alternative mass transport options even if it can provide immediate relief?

Anyone who knows their local political patron would understand why there is so much determination on the opposition’s part to lobby against the BRT and their alibi that the city has yet to finish the Cebu City Medical Center project and the Mambaling tunnel project simply doesn’t wash.

Never mind the fact that there are national government agencies that can provide technical support to the city.

If oppositors to the BRT and the city government’s role in spearheading the project can present an immediate viable solution to the city’s transport woes, then they should come forward and do so.