BRT
CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, setting in motion the next crucial steps for the project’s implementation.
“This signing sets on paper the City’s commitment for the project. It contains the responsibilities and duties of the different parties in the implementation of the BRT project,” said Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) executive director Rafael Yap.
Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya and Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson signed the document earlier.
“After we send the MOU already signed by the mayor, then we’ll wait for them to be in Cebu for the conduct of the detailed engineering design,” Yap added.
Under the MOU, the DOTC will oversee the planning and development of the project through the BRT National Steering Committee (BRT-NSC) and the BRT National Program Management Office (BRT-NPMO).
The DPWH will give technical advice and support while the Cebu city government will take care of coordinating with the various stakeholders and affected sectors, particularly on “social impact management.”
The DOTC will also be the main operator of the project. It will “facilitate, organize and document the conduct of mid and post project evaluation and impact analyses” as well as “formulate a comprehensive operations and maintenance plan for the project.”
The DOTC’s role include operations management, incident and emergency management, safety and security, fare collection, revenue protection, customer support and information and infrastructure maintenance and cleaning.
The City will maintain the non-BRT exclusive running ways along local roads and provide security, logistical coordination and support in maintaining the project, render traffic enforcement along the BRT corridor and maintain availability of the area traffic control system.
The P10.6 billion BRT Project will be implemented in a 16-kilometer route from barangay Bulacao in the south until barangay Talamban in Cebu City north.
It is expected to be operational by 2017.
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