Earth-balling of trees within Cebu City BRT route begins

CEBU CITY––Trees along the center island of Osmeña Boulevard in this city have started to be earth-balled late last month to give way to the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.

The uprooted trees–223 Indian and five Ficus–will be transferred to the North Reclamation Area.

Councilor Joel Garganera, chairman of the committee on environment and natural resources, said the city government wouldn’t just leave the uprooted trees unattended.

“These trees have to be monitored and taken care of even if these would already be transferred,” he said.

Garganera said the city council had approved the earth-balling of trees and that it passed through the process set by the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office.

The affected trees are located on the center island of the three-kilometer Osmeña Boulevard, which is part of Package 1 of the BRT project from the Cebu South Bus Terminal to the Cebu provincial capitol.

Engineer Norvin Imbong, the officer-in-charge of the BRT project, said the earth-balling of trees in the center island was needed since the dedicated lanes for the buses will be placed there.

Imbong said the budget for the earth balling is part of the P35-million budget for greening projects. At least P17 million had been downloaded to the Cebu City government as funds for the earth-balling of the trees.

The BRT is part of the Integrated Intermodal Transportation System (IITS) in Cebu. The IITS, initiated by the Department of Transportation (DOTr), aims to integrate the BRT, monorail system, and cable car system.

The Cebu BRT Package 1 includes a route from the Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT), to Osmeña Boulevard and the Cebu provincial capitol.

Package 2 will start from the South Road Properties (SRP) to the CSBT and another route from the capitol to the IT Park in Barangay Lahug.

Package 3 will begin from Talisay City to Barangay Mambaling, Talisay City to SRP, and IT Park to Barangay Talamban.

Once operational, the Cebu BRT, which costs P16.3 billion, is expected to serve around 60,000 passengers daily.

City Mayor Tomas Osmeña first proposed the BRT system in the 1990s, but it was only in 2008 when the DOTr began formal planning.

In 2018, the DOTr wanted to cancel the project due to infrastructure problems but later decided to push through with it.