CCTO asked to prep city's transportation development plan

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City Council has asked the Cebu City Transportation Office and the Cebu City Development Office to prepare the city's transportation development plan derived from the recently-sealed collaboration with the City of Moscow in Russia.

The request was granted through the approved resolution of Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, the Cebu City Council's majority floor leader and the chairman of the Committee on Tourism, who led the second wave of delegation of city officials to Russia last month.

Last Wednesday, Pesquera delivered a privilege, wherein she asked the two offices to transmit the initiatives done during the transportation summit in Moscow.

The first wave to collaborate with Moscow, according to Pesquera, stemmed from the vision of Mayor Michael Rama during their first visit to Vladivostok for the Eastern Economic Forum last September 23, 2024.

During that visit, she explained that the Moscow Government presented to them their proposal to enter into a partnership agreement with Cebu City alongside the transportation idea agreement.

With this, the Cebu City Council crafted the agreement and authorized Acting Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia to sign this agreement on behalf of Cebu City.

Last August 21, 2024, the second delegation led by Pesquera went back to Moscow, Russia International Transport Summit and BRICS International Forum.

In the summit, a ceremonial signing of the joint statement on transport data agreement was signed between the City of Cebu and Moscow signed by the Deputy Mayor of Moscow.

On the BRICS International Forum, Pesquera said they also enacted the ceremonial signing of the Transport Agreement, which she added not only tackles transportation methods, but also urban planning, economy, environment, entrepreneurship, science, education, trade, and services, among others.

"We were just the only city represented there, that is not part of BRICS plus 14 countries. We were thankful that they really highlighted the city of Cebu during the plenary session," she said.

Aside from this, Pesquera said she also presented the current tourism landscape of Cebu City.

Further, a business-to-business meeting also took place in Saint Petersburg, which manifested their interest in bridging a partnership with Cebu City, especially on the aspect that the city is the center of shipping trade and of tourism.

Pesquera laid out that the various presentations during their trip to Russia have mapped out the need to restudy the urban development in the city and expound the perspective on what the city can do onwards.

"But with our partnership agreement with the Moscow Government, they will be able to provide us with the technical know-how, we don't have to reinvent things because they have already accomplished it, they have studied, researched, everything, they have already implemented it, what we just need is to learn from them," she said. (CEBU NEWS)