Mayor Rama may allow LRT in Cebu City if.

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said that he might allow the proposed Light Rail Transit to traverse the city although with a major “but”.

“It’s okay as long as it will not traverse the major thoroughfares of the city because I don’t want the historical beauty of the city to be destroyed as well as the beauty of the sky to be blocked from our sight. Okay ra kung adto muagi sa bukid,” Rama said.

But putting it in the mountains is tantamount to saying that there is no way LRT will be feasible in the city, said Nigel Paul Villarete, former City Planning and Development coordinator and now general manager of the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

“No, it’s not feasible. Wala’y pasahero sa bukid,” Villarete said.

Congressman for Cebu City south district Tomas Osmeña said that he cannot make any decision on the idea until the feasibility study of the Bus Rapid Transit, which he favors over the other, is out.

“An LRT system from Cebu City to Balamban is interesting however as this will spur the development of the mountain barangays and the other side of Cebu province,” Osmeña said.

Cebu first district Rep. Eduardo Gullas, the proponent for the LRT, was not available for comment yesterday.

Villarete reiterated his position that two mass transport systems sharing the same ridership in the city will not work.

He said he even does not understand why there are people who try hard to keep the issue alive while the proposal for an LRT here was rejected by four feasibility studies 10 years ago.

“Why do they have to insist when it was clear in all four feasibility studies that it is not feasible in Cebu?” Villarete said.

As early as 1992, a Pre-Feasibility Study for a Metro Cebu Mass Transport System funded by the province and done by Schema Konsult, Inc. showed result that Cebu is not for LRT.

The pre-feasibility study done by World Bank consultants which was presented in the middle of this year showed that BRT is feasible in Cebu City including Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.

Another study for the feasibility of LRT in Cebu was conducted in 1995. The Pre-Investment Study proposed and conducted by Jefferies of the US and funded by USAID was not even completed when Jefferies realized along the way that LRT is not feasible for Cebu.

In 1999, there was the feasibility study for Cebu Light Rail Transit Project (NEDA Project ID No. 575), proposed under the Central Visayas Development Project and done by Development and Management Corporation and Cebu Engineering Development Company.

It was proposed for funding under Official Development Assistance through Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund now the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

But Villarete said it has never reached JBIC because it was not approved by the National Economic and Development Authority Board.

“What I can’t understand is why we insist on a system where a Cebuano walks more than half a kilometer to an LRT station, then climb up the stairs instead of just strolling about 200 meters to a BRT station and climbing a few steps,” he said.

Aside from the fact that feasibility studies rejected the project before, he said that there is no way it can be implemented without the nod of the mayor and the city council.

“The Local Government Code of 1991 (RA7160) declares under Chapter III, Article I, Section 25-b that national agencies and offices with project implementation functions shall coordinate with one another and with the local government units concerned in the discharge of these functions, and that they shall ensure the participation of local government units both in the planning and implementation of said national projects,” Osmeña earlier said in his letter to the Regional Development Council.

Villarete said that the city has already issued its stand objecting to the Cebu LRT project in a letter to both the Department of Transportation and Communications and NEDA in October last year.

In November 4 of the same year, the city council passed Resolution No. 09-1154, declaring its objections to the project. — /BRP (THE FREEMAN)