DOTR identifies big ticket infra projects for Cebu

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) outlined a number of big ticket infrastructure projects for Cebu, including a $3-billion railway system with an underground component.

The DOTr noted on Tuesday that it would soon implement a so-called integrated transportation system for Cebu.

The system broadly refers to projects it said “will synchronize various transportation solutions to address the worsening traffic congestion in Metro Cebu.”

The projects include a point-to-point (P2P) bus system similar to MyBus, which is already operational in the city; a monorail in Lapu-Lapu City; Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projects for three-lane roads; the Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines from Carcar to Danao, and the Mandaue to Airport Line.

“There is no single solution to address transportation issues. It needs a basket of solutions, that is why we are pursuing the implementation of the Integrated Transportation System in Cebu in the next two years,” Transportation secretary Arthur Tugade said in a statement.

The system, as envisioned by the DOTr, will include more P2P buses, and a monorail system that will link the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) to various destinations around the island.

The planned Cebu LRT, meanwhile, will cater to “inter-city passengers.”

A Singaporean-Chinese and Filipino consortium earlier submitted a proposal to build the LRT system, which will have a subway component. It will likewise have a connection from Mandaue to MCIA.

“The LRT will become the main arterial backbone of Cebu’s mass transportation, with other ITS components as feeder lines serving internal peripheries,” Tugade said.

The new direction comes as Tugade earlier expressed his opposition toward an earlier-proposed Cebu BRT project, which runs 23-kilometers through Bulacao, Ayala and Talamban. He said the project might worsen conditions in already congested roads, a view that is disputed by Cebu BRT supporters.

In the statement, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino said they were open to BRTs, but only on three-lane roads.

“It was a common agreement that BRT on narrow roads will fail,” he said.