Cebu Railway Project Office, closed!

[MoeHan]

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mgka train na unta ta sa SUGBO.. wa nila gi daun.. unsa inyo ika suliti ani?


CEBU CITY -- The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) suspended the operation of the Cebu Railway Project Office (CRPO), effective last December 31, 2010.

It instructed General Manager Nigel Paul Villarete of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) to take custody of the equipment in the office, set up in 2009 in preparation for the construction of the Light Rail Transit (LRT).

"We would like to reiterate our verbal request to transfer the office equipment of the CRPO to MCIAA for storage purposes, as the latter's operation is suspended effective December 31, 2010," read the letter from Glicerio V. Sikat, DOTC undersecretary for rail transport and civil aviation.


The letter, dated December 22, was addressed to Villarete, who said that maybe the reason the CRPO equipment will be entrusted with MCIAA is that both the authority and the CRPO report to the same undersecretary in the DOTC.

The CRPO holds office in Crown Plaza at the North Reclamation Area, Cebu City.

The CRPO was established in 2009 by Guiling Maondiong, then DOTC undersecretary for railway and civil aviation, who conducted a public hearing in August 2009 on the railway project in Cebu as proposed by the AMA Group of Companies.

The railway project has drawn support from Representatives Eduardo Gullas (first district), Pablo Garcia (second district), Pablo John Garcia (third district) and Benhur Salimbangon (fourth district). It will serve Mandaue City, Cebu City and Talisay City, and will stretch from Talisay City to Dalaguete town in southern Cebu and from Mandaue City to Catmon in the north.

One incident that stood out in that hearing was when then-Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña (now congressman of Cebu City's south district) opposed the LRT project and called DOTC officials "lousy" urban planners.

Osmeña, together with Villarete who was then the Cebu City Planning and Development officer, is advocating for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) instead of a rail system.

Villarete said the DOTC discussed last month the BRT proposal with World Bank representatives, who committed to provide financial assistance for the feasibility study.

In the meantime, Villarete said he is proposing to the Korean International Cooperation Agency to consider providing funds for BRT-ready transport that will link the airport to the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.

BRT-ready means the proper agency will acquire buses, which can be used in any route but will be compatible with the BRT system once the infrastructure is in place. (EOB/Sun.Star Cebu)

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on January 05, 2011.


reference : Cebu railway office closed | Sun.Star Network Online

[MoeHan]

Dili cla gnahan og TRAIN kai BUS ra daw.. tsk! okey ra unta og dagko tag dalan.

[jeremiahjay]

hahay di ko kabalo kung LRT ko or BRT ko. Wa man sad gud ta kabalo sa mga ulterior motives behind the projects..

[allstuffs]

mag-bus cla, buhat cla ug pila-ka-layers na dalan aron mu-click... tsk tsk tsk...

[miyay]

kung underground ang LRT ok ra pero kung pareha gihapon sa NCR, mas maayo pa ang BRT.

[salbahis]

i dont support LRT/MRT, i support BRT it is more cheaper to implement, beside cebu had a train before... i would rather a train that runs thru the whole province, then again patay ang Bus sector ug mao na...

[cool_guy]

maayo nlang unta to mkasakay ta ug train

[personalmgt]

BRT or LRT, as long as any of those are implemented, everybody wins.

The question is, can they implement it?

[burn777]

yes they can and will corruptly get a lot of money from either...

[Aydukaduka Uy]

i like the ideya of having e tren in cebu..sayanga wa diay gidayun pero ang budget basin gidayun sa bulsa..tsk..tsk..tsk...