CEBU CITY—By 2021 Metro Cebu will have its first alternative transport system in the form of a monorail transit (MRT), providing solution to traffic woes in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue, a consortium of Filipino and Chinese investors said.
Philtram Transportation Consortium Corp. (Philtram) and China Railway Engineering Consulting Group (CEC) have presented the result of their prefeasibility study on Cebu’s traffic congestion and for a proposed MRT.
Philtram COO Jose Guardo Jr. said the 12-kilometer (km) monorail will run from the South Road Properties (SRP) all the way to Mandaue City. He added the project only needs the approval of the local government units of Mandaue and Cebu to begin.
Guardo said as proposed, the project will have 17 stations and the proponent will be using a six-coach train that can carry up to 750 passengers. Guardo said the train intervals will only be 90 seconds even during peak hours and they can run for up to 80 km per hour.
“Since this is a monorail, it will not be noisy. It can easily pass through buildings like malls or convention centers. We are advocating for rail-oriented development,” Guardo said.
He added the monorail will complement the multibillion-peso Cebu Bus Rapid Transit project since the former is elevated and will have a median alignment using the existing center islands of the roads.
“It will not replace the jeepneys since these will be utilized by the passengers in going to and from the monorail’s stations,” he said.
Based on the pre-feasibility study, Guardo said Cebu needs an alternative mode of transportation to
address the foreseen traffic gridlock.
“Cebu City has reached critical levels where a mass-transit network is needed and a do-nothing scenario may hamper sustained development,” Guardo added, reading the statement released by Systra, the company that conducted the study.
The MRT system proposed by Philtram will cost $27 million, or P1.3 billion per km. This means the entire 16-km project will need about P20.3 billion.
However, Guardo expressed confidence that the project will attract investors through hybrid private-public partnership, or through an entirely private undertaking.
He said as soon as the feasibility study and the detailed engineering plan become available, they will present these to the national government for possible partnership or approval.