Mgt committee sought for BRT

Cebu - The Cebu City government calls on the Department of Transportation and Communications to create a project management committee for the proposed Bus Rapid Transit System.

In a communication sent to DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza, acting mayor Michael Rama said it is hoped that there will already be a memorandum for the creation of an overall management committee for the BRT as the mode of urban mass transportation.

This will be the next step in realizing the project which will surely bring convenience not only for Cebu City but for the adjacent local government units as well.

“We likewise reiterate the request for a cooperative and collaborative policy formulation, decision making and management of the proposed system, in as much as this urban public mass transportation is very well a concern of the LGU as it is the DOTC’s,” Rama said.

He said that the city is also reinforcing its original request sent to the department last June 2008 to undertake a feasibility study for the establishment of a BRT in Cebu City.

To support the letter, Rama enclosed a copy of Resolution 08-1430 of the City Council declaring, as policy direction of the city government of Cebu, the establishment of a public urban mass transport system in the form of the BRT.

Rama asked the DOTC to note and consider that the preference is for a BRT and not in the form of a rail-based mass transport system.

The proposed BRT is seen to include the cities of Talisay, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu.

City Planning and Development coordinator Nigel Paul Villarete is set to make presentations on the BRT to the said LGUs that he hopes will also pass the same resolution preferring the BRT.

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes already expressed interest in the project while Lapu-Lapu City government is still undecided.

Talisay City government, on the other hand, is supporting the plan of Cebu first district Rep. Eduardo Gullas, who prefers the light rail transit (LRT).

The proposed LRT will run from Argao in the south to Danao City in the north. — Ferliza C. Contratista/MEEV  (THE FREEMAN)