BRT loan pact still not signed; bidding winner known Sept

CEBU, Philippines - The loan agreement for the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit has yet to be signed despite the scheduled awarding of its detailed engineering design in September.

Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (CITOM) Executive Director Rafael Yap, however, said this does not entail the deferment and even cancellation of the mass transport system in the city.

“Formally, the loan has not yet been signed. But there is already an understanding between the national government and the city government  as evidenced by the approval of the project, and there is willingness from the World Bank to enter into a negotiation,” he said.

Yap, though, said signing of the agreement is a crucial issue considering that the nitty-gritty of  the contract would be critically deliberated.

“What is the timeline? What are the social safeguards that are in place? What are the payment details?” he said, citing some important details that must be straightened out.

The World Bank is committed  to grant a $116-million loan to the national government  through the Department of Transportation and Communication.  The BRT is projected to cost the national government  P10.6 billion.

“The World Bank allows retro-active financing for certain activities leading towards the implementation of the Cebu-BRT project,” Yap said.

He said the DOTC is set to award the detailed engineering design project not later than September 30 after more than three big companies submitted their respective bids last year.

“In the overall timeframe sa BRT okay pa ta because we already met the June 30 deadline of the World Bank; if we didn’t we would be charged with commitment fees. The Philippine government would have had to pay some amount, but more importantly ma-affected ang operation. On June 29, all the loan requirements were met. June 30, an invitation to negotiate the loan was already issued by the World Bank to the Philippine government,” Yap said. —/RHM (FREEMAN)