Civil works for Cebu City BRT project begins

Trees on Osmeña Boulevard in Cebu City had been marked for cutting for the BRT project. FILE PHOTO

CEBU CITY — After waiting for about 15 years, this city will finally start the construction of the infrastructure for its first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system next month.

While the formal groundbreaking ceremony has yet to be finalized, civil works for the long overdue project have started.

“There has already been a movement. The plants on the center islands were already removed and the concrete center islands on Osmeña Boulevard will have to be demolished,” said Engineer Roberto Varquez, the city’s BRT project overseer.

“The only thing we’re waiting for before we go full blast is the formal groundbreaking,” he added.

On Jan. 11, the Cebu City government, through its Public Information Office, announced that the BRT’s Package 1 groundbreaking would be on Feb. 2 with the presence of President Marcos.

But Varquez told the media in a press conference on Monday that the groundbreaking for the BRT project was moved to Feb. 24 to accommodate the President.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) earlier awarded the contract for Package 1 of the BRT project to China-based firm Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Company Ltd, which won the bid to implement the P17.3-billion first BRT alignment.

Package 1 covers the route from the Cebu capitol through Osmeña Boulevard and right to Cebu South Bus Terminal on N. Bacalso Ave.

The BRT, which aims to solve this city’s traffic problems, was part of the Integrated Intermodal Transportation System that plans to integrate the BRT, monorail system, and cable car system.

Once fully operational, the Cebu BRT is expected to serve around 60,000 passengers daily.

City Mayor Tomas Osmeña proposed the BRT system in the 1990s, but the DOTr began formal planning in 2008.

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

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