SECURING national government support for the the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project will be among the priorities of Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district if he gets elected anew as Cebu City mayor this year.
“The (feasibility) study (that they already completed on the BRT) is not wasted unless somewhere along the way you decide not to implement that portion (of the project),” Osmeña said.
President Benigno Aquino III told local allies last year that the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) board which he chairs will have to temporarily set aside approval of the BRT project in order to clarify several concerns.
Aquino said the national government cannot gamble on an untested P10 billion project.
Osmeña blames his successor, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, for failing to explain how the BRT project works before the NEDA board.
Social preparations
Osmeña said fears of dislocation and the need for social preparations are also concerns which the city government should look into prior to implementing the project.
“What will he (Rama) explain when he does not even know what he is talking about,” Osmeña said, referring to a taped video of the mayor’s State of the City Address (SOCA) in which he allegedly failed to explain what the BRT means.
Rama described Osmeña’s claim as “undeserving of any comment.”
He said he didn’t have any opportunity to make a presentation of the BRT to President Aquino.
Rama, who left the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) camp in 2011, said Osmeña should have contacted him if he had suggestions on how to present the BRT system implementation.
Osmeña said he will secure NEDA board approval on the project when be becomes Cebu City mayor anew.
He said the BRT can still be reintroduced on a smaller scale.
“Many things don’t fly the first time around. You just have to present it again. Unless its a situation like the Mactan Airport transfer where in instead of a transfer the airport authority decided to built a new terminal,” he said.
Osmeña said he will have the BRT study reviewed so it can be implemented by segment.
Using data from a completed feasibility study, Osmeña said he could pick an area like the Cebu Capitol to the Fuente Osmeña circle as a pilot area for the BRT system so it can be seen by the public.
The proposed route is shorter and will cost less than the P10 billion estimated project cost.
If proven effective, Osmeña said the BRT project can be expanded to other areas like barangays Guadalupe or Mabolo.
“If the system doesn’t work, sorry. But at least you are not gambling P10 billion. We can do a short section of the BRT. I can convince the president to do that,” he said. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac