CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama did not hide his frustration over his failure to personally meet with Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) to discuss the stalled mass transit system project in Cebu City.
He was only able to meet Assistant Secretary Jaime Ralph Feliciano last Monday, despite his confirmed appointment with Secretary Abaya.
“It seems that the DOTC is the busiest among the national government agencies,” the mayor said.
Last month, he went to Manila hoping to discuss the Bus Rapid Transit project (BRT) with Abaya, but the secretary was not available. He scheduled another travel a few weeks after his first trip but Abaya told him to postpone his visit until after the agency has defended its budget proposal for 2014.
Rama said that his visit last Monday was pre-scheduled but still, Abaya was not there.
“This office has been too evasive,” Rama told Feliciano during their talk.
Although frustrated, Rama said he was still able to discuss the BRT proposal for Cebu City with the assistant secretary.
Feliciano, he said told him that the DOTC is still working to comply with President Benigno Aquino’s request for a “proof of concept.”
Rama added that he was also told by Feliciano that the DOTC is currently working to have the BRT proposal included for discussion in the National Economic Development Authority board meeting this month.
What Proof?
“What proof of concept are they looking for when the proof of concept was already proven a long time ago and it is already being operated anywhere else. What’s their basis for asking for a proof of concept?” Rama narrated his answer to Feliciano in yesterday afternoon’s press conference.
BRT systems are being used in Curitiva in Brazil, Xiamen,China and Aminabad in India.
Alternative
The mayor said that while he does not intend to give up on the BRT project, he is already studying other transporation alternatives to address the traffic problem of the city.
He said he is looking at the Automated Gateway Transit (AGT) system of the Department of Science and Technology although if adapted in the city, he would rather have an AGT that will run on rails built on existing city roads instead of elevated railways.
“I wish that this September, they will already be able to come up with something optimistic for the BRT but that will not also stop me from pursuing another trasport system because we do not have time (to wait much longer),” he said.
The World Bank had funded the feasibility study on the Cebu BRT project. It was proposed to be included in the government’s Private-Public Partnership program, but President Aquino shelved it last March.
The World Bank and the Agence Francaise de Development had expressed interest in funding the project whose first phase, would have cost US $180-million.