House panel OKs bills setting up LRT in Cebu

Two House Bills for the establishment of a light rail transport system in Cebu City and metropolitan Cebu have gotten favorable reaction from the House committee on railways, said committee head Rep. Augusto Baculio (Misamis Oriental, 2nd dist.).

Baculio said his committee has approved "in principle" these bills, which were separately filed by Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north dist.) and Rep. Eduardo Gullas (Cebu, 1st district).

HBs 56 and 3006, which will then be consolidated, sought for the construction and operation of an LRT here to keep pace with Cebu's increasing population and fast-paced economic development.

The LRT has been projected to solve the worsening traffic situation in Cebu and improve the mobility of people. "A mass rail transit system will help solve the problem as this is a better option than roads," Baculio said.

Gullas, hoped that the LRT project would be started soon, said, "If there is any other metropolitan area (in the country) viable for mass railway transit, it is no other than Cebu."

Despite the attractive intentions, however, the project may encounter problems on funding. NEDA Secretary Augusto Santos had informed Baculio's committee that this was not included in the 2005-2010 medium-term public-investment program of the Department of Transportation and Communications.

Santos said NEDA's investment coordination committee approved in 2000 the Phase I of the Cebu LRT project but was not considered for funding under the Japanese government's special yen loan Package.

But Gullas said Santos had advised him to resubmit the project's funding scheme for approval by the NEDA panel as funding will no longer come from Japan's Overseas Development Assistance.

A memorandum of agreement between DOTC and AMA Group Holdings Corporation was recently signed for the latter to do a feasibility study of the Cebu LRT project at no cost to the government, so that previous bases for NEDA approval would be validated.

Gullas requested that the DOTC investment program be amended to include the LRT. - Garry B. Lao