Barring any sudden announcements, it looks like Cebu City will have to wait until the end of this month to finally learn about the fate of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) that was held hostage by 11th hour complaints from those with an axe to grind against the incumbent administration at Cebu City Hall.
There were reports that the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) gave the Department of Transportation (DOTR) until the end of June to present a better argument against the BRT complete with quantitative analysis and other technical data that would prove beyond reasonable doubt that the project isn’t feasibility for Cebu City’s streets.
As if meeting with World Bank representatives and inspecting the proposed route for the BRT aren’t enough, Transportation Secretary Arturo Tugade and those critical of the project should substantiate their allegations that there was no mention of dedicated lanes in the proposed BRT.
That June 30 deadline was perhaps the most that can be gleaned from the BRT’s status as indicated in a letter sent by the DOTR to the city government.
It didn’t help any that President Rodrigo Duterte was mostly neutral about the project during last Thursday’s visit to inaugurate the second terminal of the Mactan Cebu International Airport.
When asked about the BRT’s fate, the President mentioned that it was marred by politicking and the general opposition from some quarters who proposed a Light Railway Transit (LRT) system as the better alternative.
What was definite from President Duterte’s statements during the press briefing after the inauguration was his mentioning that the national government may take charge of whatever mass transport project will be set aside for Cebu City and that if it means funding the project from the nation’s coffers, then so be it.
We just hope that the national government through President Duterte finally allow the BRT project to be implemented immediately in order to address not only traffic congestion but also provide Cebu City commuters with what its proponents and teams of technical experts have long argued as a viable, effective mass transport service.
The BRT project’s critics, including those pushing for an alternative mass transport project that would take years to process and complete, have presented nada evidence and rely mostly on the say-so of a transport expert who backed the original LRT project in Manila which is now in a constant state of deterioration and whose costly maintenance is being shouldered by the country’s taxpayers.
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