Dominguez wants BRT issue resolved

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Finance (DOF) wants issues revolving the feasibility of the proposed Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) Systems to be resolved by the end of the month, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said.

It is urgent to settle the arguments and decide immediately whether the BRT projects are technically feasible, particularly the one in Cebu, as the government has already secured loans for the project, Dominguez said.

“I said, you have until the end of June to settle it because I don’t want this argument to go on forever,” the finance chief said in an interview.

Earlier, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said it wants to scrap the BRT projects for Cebu and Metro Manila, saying they would not be effective in addressing traffic congestion in these major cities.

For Cebu, the DOTr claimed that BRT is not a suitable project for the city, citing narrow roads and right-of-way issues.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has given the DOTr until the end of the month to submit sufficient evidence against the projects, as well as an alternative proposal.

“There are two issues there—the technical and financial issues. With the technical issues, I’m not qualified to make any comment because I don’t know anything about transportation,” Dominguez said when asked to comment on the issue.

“The financial issue, there is really none. It has been evaluated by previous governments and was found to have a good internal rate of return,” he added.

Under the proposed project, the DOTr was supposed to build the BRT Line 1 from Quezon Memorial Circle to Manila City Hall via Elliptical Road, Quezon Avenue and Espana Boulevard and the BRT Line 2 or the EDSA BRT.

BRT Line 1 is estimated to cost P4.8 billion, while BRT Line 2 has an indicative project amount of P37.8 billion.