CEBU CITY—Cebu may just have a monorail by the time President Rodrigo Duterte steps down from office in 2022.
Michael Lloyd Dino, presidential assistant for the Visayas, said there was already an unsolicited proposal for a monorail submitted to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
It would have the capacity of the existing Light Rail Transit (LRT) in Metro Manila.
In a statement, Dino said he was pushing for the monorail’s “partial operability by 2022.”
Dino issued the statement on Monday (Jan. 20) following the promise made by Duterte on Sunday (Jan, 19) to look for funds for a commuter train system in Cebu.
it was one of several plans to ease road gridlock in the city.
“Cebu cannot expand anymore because it is an old city,” Duterte said in Cebuano during his speech at the Cebu City Sports Center, the final staging area for the Sinulog Grand Parade.
“The only way to address traffic here is to have a train or an elevated structure. That is how I see it,” he said.
“I will help you look for a funding. The plan is a commuter train. I will be the one to do it. I will look for money. That is my promise to you.” he added.
Dino said Duterte’s statement was a morale booster for planners involved in the proposed Integrated Intermodal Transport System in Cebu City.
“There is really no other way to solve traffic here but to go up,” said Dino in his statement.
Dino thanked Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade for his “tremendous support” for the rail proposals.
“We needed this mass transportation years ago,” said Dino.
“Thankfully, we now have a President that cares for his people,” he added.
With no “honest-to-goodness” mass transport system, Cebu development would stagnate.
He thanked Duterte, sounding like it was a done deal already, calling the President’s promise an “assurance.”
Edited by TSB