Neda defers bus rapid transport project in Cebu

CEBU CITY—The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) board has approved the proposal to build a second terminal at Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) in Lapu-Lapu City to address the increasing passenger traffic.

But unlike the airport expansion project, the Neda board has decided to defer action on Cebu City’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project that was supposed to address the worsening traffic problems in the city.

The contrasting fate of the two projects was announced by President Benigno Aquino III on Friday when he met with his Cebu allies in the Liberal Party.

Aquino told a news conference that the Neda board approved the MCIA Terminal 2 project, worth P11.3 billion, which would augment the airport’s Terminal 1 that was built in 1995 and designed to have a capacity of 4.5 million passengers.

MCIA general manager Nigel Paul Villarete said a new terminal was needed since they expected the volume of passengers to increase by 7 million by the end of the year.

President Aquino said that with tourism arrivals in the country projected to increase to 10 million in 2016, a new terminal was already needed.

“The existing MCIA terminal is not designed to carry that load,” he said.

The first phase of the airport terminal construction would be implemented in 2014 and would cost P6.9 billion, according to the project brief. The second phase would start in 2024 and would cost P4.4 billion, it added.

While the airport expansion project was about to take off, the BRT project of Cebu City would be deferred.

President Aquino said that while his administration recognizes the importance of the BRT as a “cheaper” and “faster” alternative to the Light Railway Transit, there is a need for further study on the project proposal.

“Something is lacking,” he said, referring to the result of the pre-feasibility study that was presented to the Neda board.

“There is a need for segregated roads for buses to minimize the stop and go.  But is there really a place in Cebu where we are more segregated?” he added.

Noticing the city’s lack of a road network, Aquino stressed that the government couldn’t experiment on a project like BRT, which costs P10 billion.

“If we experiment, [let us not do it] on billions worth of project.  But we are heading to that direction so we have to fix it first,” he said.

Lawyer Rafael Yap of the BRT Technical Working Group said Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya presented the BRT project to the Neda board during Thursday’s meeting.

Later in the afternoon, he received word from the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) that the project was deferred because of the need to present a “proof of concept.”

Yap said he could not yet fully explain what “proof of concept” meant since he was still waiting for a detailed report of the Neda board meeting from DOTC.

Under the BRT project, buses will occupy the city’s major thoroughfares. At least 22 routes of public utility jeepneys (PUJs) would have to be restructured and shortened to prevent the affected PUJs from entering the BRT route.

Fourteen bus stations would be put up with elevated platforms and closed circuit television cameras.