Contractors ready to do studies on BRT

CEBU, Philippines - Both international and local studies for the establishment of a Bus Rapid Transit System in Cebu City are now completely negotiated.

In a press release, City Planning and Development Coordinating Office head Nigel Paul Villarete said studies to be conducted by World Bank and the Department of Transportation and Communication for the BRT in Cebu have been awarded to their respective contractors.

Villarete said, WB has successfully completed the negotiations with the first ranked consultants and has signed the contract for the eight month study to be undertaken by the Integrated Transport Planning of the United Kingdom.

ITP is also the consultant for the Lagos BRT of Lagos, Nigeria the first of its kind in Africa.

ITP team is to be led by Colin Brader, who was awarded as the Transport Planner of the Year award in the UK Transport Planning Authority. Brader and his team will start their work with a kick-off meeting on October 23 in Cebu City.

The study, he said, will run for eight to nine months.

After that, Villarete said the serious matter of BRT design and funds negotiation for its implementation will already be undertaken late next year or early 2011.

On the other hand, the DOTC study on Metro Cebu Strategic Plan was also completely negotiated with Design Science as the implementor.

He said the Notice to Proceed has already been issued and the team is mobilizing to start their 12-month study.

The study of DOTC is to be done simultaneously with the WB Study as well as the Asian Development Bank.

The ADB through the Cities Development Initiative for Asia is making a study on the Internal Transport System of the South Road Properties.

ADB-CDIA is mobilizing a new team for the Phase 2 of the Priority Infrastructure Investment Plan for the SRP which will start also next month.

 There will be around five sub-studies, but the most important one, he said will the Comprehensive Pre-Feasibility Study of the Internal Transport System of the SRP.

This study will define how people and goods shall be transported within the SRP area, taking into account livability and mobility considerations, environmentally-sustainable transport, and efficiency.

The other important study is the Comprehensive Pre-Feasibility Study of the SRP-BRT/ Main Street which will connect to the proposed Cebu City BRT-Main Line.

WB through the Private Public Infrastructure Advisory Facility gave out $350,000 grant to the Cebu City Government to finance the feasibility study.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s thrust is to have a pro-poor and child- and environmentally-friendly transport system by decreasing the number of private vehicles and establishing the BRT as the mass transport system.

His decision is influenced by the transformation of the City of Bogota through its former mayor Enrique Peñalosa. — Ferliza C. Contratista/BRP (THE FREEMAN)