Duterte in South Korea for LRT talks
By Ben O. Tesiorna
Thursday, October 30, 2014
DAVAO CITY Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is in South Korea to meet with Korean investors interested to pour in investment for the construction of a mass transportation system in the city.
But the visit is not an official business trip as the city mayor was spending for his own trip and not at the cost of the taxpayers.
Duterte met with officials of the Korean Engineering Corporation (KEC) that will conduct a feasibility study on the light rail transit (LRT) system for Davao City. The feasibility study will run until March 2015.
The Korean company has indicated it will consider the 2013-2020 Zoning Ordinance of the city in their conduct of the feasibility study.
Last June, a memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed between Duterte and officials of the KEC headed by Professor Chae Il Kwon, chief researcher of the Transportation Study Group of Seoul National University in Davao City.
The Koreans warmly welcomed Duterte who also met with other interested Korean investors willing to do business in Davao City like Hanshin PBS and Sindonga General Construction. He arrived in South Korea last October 27.
KEC said about 25,384,389 disembarking and 24,430,906 embarking passengers were recorded in Davao City for the year 2011, totaling 49,815,295 passengers.
KEC said that with the forecasted increase in traffic activities in Davao City at a constant growth rate of 2.88 percent from 2007 to 2011, traffic congestion is bound to happen.
With the 2.88 percent growth rate per year, KEC said Davao City will need a transportation system that is efficient, environment-friendly and one that can accommodate the increasing number of passengers.
Two LRT routes were presented by KEC, specifically from the Davao Gulf and Country Club in Toril to the Francisco Bangoy International Airport.
Both routes will pass through different proposed stations, with the first one having a length of 13 kilometers while the second being 17 kilometers.
The entire project is estimated to run into billions of pesos and will be under the Build-Operate-Transfer scheme.