Officials of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) presented to Gov. Gwen Garcia the project summary of a 67.5-km underground passenger railway line that will connect Carcar City in the south to as far as Danao City in the north.
Timothy John Batan, undersecretary for planning and project development at DOTr, said the project, which will be called Metro Cebu Urban Mass Rapid Transit (UMRT), will address Metro Cebu’s growing transportation woes as it seeks to decongest traffic, reduce travel time, and improve connectivity through Cebu’s first underground railway system.
However, Gov. Garcia, a veteran in public administration, knew that a project of this magnitude can take decades from proposal, to feasibility studies, to processing of permits and securing approval from various national line agencies, to execution, until completion.
And so she has made a novel proposal to Usec. Batan: allow Cebu LGUs to handle the project while DOTr will maintain its supervisory control.
The governor’s proposal is something that is not new in Cebu, where public-private partnership (PPP) is the preferred mode of executing large-scale projects such as the Mactan Cebu International Airport operations, Cebu–Cordova Link Expressway, as well as the Capitol’s joint venture agreements with Filinvest and Manila Waters, among various others.
Through the provincial government’s Economic Enterprise Council (EEC), the Capitol shall open the proposed subway project to private firms as a PPP, subject to the rules and regulations set by law.
With Cebu’s unprecedented unity among its leaders headed by Gov. Gwen down to the Provincial Board and the mayors of Cebu LGUs, the necessary permits and the cooperation of the LGUs involved will certainly expedite the execution and completion of the proposed subway project.
Usec. Batan noted that Cebu has been home of a lot of firsts, such as the first PPP in international airport operations at the MCIA and the first LGU-led toll road project at the CCLEX. But Cebu can do more, he added.
“We are excited about the possibility of another first: potentially the first subway that will be entirely financed by the local government through various funding strategies and without requiring national government funding,” Usec. Batan told Cebu media after the meeting with the governor.
“That is the most interesting discussion point with the governor this afternoon,” he added. | IPA