Almendras: BRT proposal still alive

Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almedras said the Bus Rapid Transit project in Metro Cebu is still being considered, but under review by the Department of Transportation and Communication.

“I want to clarify that we are not saying no to it (BRT),” Secretary Almendras said in the sides of the launching of The Mactan Newtown yesterday.

The cabinet secretary explained that the review is necessary because in other countries, there are successful BRT as well as failed BRT systems.

“So we wanted to understand what are the challenges,” he said while saying that there’s a need to make economic rate of return projections and not just a financial returns projections.

Almendras explained that the economic rate of return refers to broader social benefits of the project.

“There are many things that are still being studied. There is a social dimension to the BRT…What do you do with the jeepney operators and drivers? These are the things to be asked or closely studied,” he said.

The proposed P10 billion mass transport systems has undergone a feasibility study, but the Investment Coordinating Council of the National Economic Development Authority had deferred approval of the project last November.

The BRT system would need funding support from a World Bank loan.

There were also additional fund commitments from the Agence Francaise de Development.

Had the NEDA approved the project, the project would have been projected to start late this year and the first phase was projected to be operational by 2015.

In this phase, 240 long buses would have been deployed to serve 14 designated stations from Bulacao to Talamban.