1st Metro Manila BRT gets $64.6-M World Bank funding

The World Bank has approved a $64.6-million loan to build the first bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Metro Manila that will run between Manila and Quezon City.

In a statement yesterday, the World Bank said its Board of Executive Directors gave the go-ahead on March 16, citing that the Metro Manila BRT Line 1 project “will provide safe, reliable and comfortable rides for about 300,000 commuters daily along España Boulevard and Quezon Avenue.”

This BRT line will be implemented by the Department of Transportation in coordination with the Manila and Quezon City governments. It is expected to start operations in 2022.

“The project will also develop support infrastructure along the España Boulevard-Quezon Avenue route, including bus terminals and stations, segregation barriers, sidewalks, warning and direction signs, and pedestrian crossing facilities, among other facilities,” the World Bank said.

“Like trains, BRTs run on dedicated lanes, carrying passengers in large numbers. Unlike trains that run on rails, however, BRTs deploy buses, making the system simpler and cheaper to construct, operate and maintain,” the World Bank noted.

The combined loan from the World Bank ($40.7 million) and the Clean Technology Fund ($23.9 million) will account for more than half of the total project cost of $109.4 million, with the remainder to be funded by the national budget.

A project description on the World Bank website said the objective of the Metro Manila BRT Line 1 project was to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and safety of the public transport system along the project corridor in Metro Manila in an environmentally sustainable manner.

“By providing an affordable and convenient public transport option, this project will help make job and education opportunities more accessible, especially for the poor residing around the BRT route. High-capacity transport systems like BRT help reduce greenhouse gases, boosting the country’s contribution to the global fight against climate change,” World Bank country director Mara Warwick said.

“Bus systems like BRT are cost-effective options for reducing emissions of harmful gases that cause climate change,” said Zhihong Zhang, senior program coordinator of the Clean Technology Fund.