12:30 am | Monday, September 29th, 2014
The World Bank has approved fresh financing for the construction of Cebu’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, taking what would be the city’s first mass transport system one step closer to fruition.
The project aims to make Cebu, the country’s oldest city, to reduce pollution and traffic, create jobs, and make the area a more attractive investment destination.
“We believe that its (project’s) impact is going to be far-reaching and transformational not only for Cebu but for the country as a whole,” World Bank country director Motoo Konishi said in a statement at the weekend.
The Washington-based multilateral lender’s executive board approved a multi-layered financial package that would provide the government $141 million in cash for the project’s implementation.
Expected to carry 330,000 passengers daily, the new BRT system will improve mobility of Cebu residents while reducing pollution and increasing travel safety. Cebu’s BRT is the second big-ticket infrastructure projects to be implemented by the Aquino administration in the Visayas, and one of the few outside Metro Manila.
Approved this week, the package from the bank will be composed of two loans: $116 million from the lender itself, plus $25 million more from Clean Technology Fund (CTF).
This would augment the $87.5 million earmarked by the state for the project.
Last month, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) released P9.48 billion in advance for the project’s implementation.
The BRT cost is significantly lower than the costs of the construction and maintenance of overhead train lines in Metro Manila. The Light Rail Transit (LRT) line 1’s extension to Cavite, which would entail the construction of 11.7 kilometers of new overhead tracks and several new stations, is expected to cost P65 billion.
“Part of the reason for BRT’s cost-effectiveness is that it can be built quickly using local labor and materials,” Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said in a statement.
Like trains, BRT runs on its own dedicated lanes, carrying large numbers of travelers faster, safer and more reliably. Unlike trains that run on rails, BRT uses buses, making the system simpler and cheaper to construct, operate, and maintain.
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