CEBU CITY—The Cebu Light Rail Transit project has become “absolutely indispensable” on account of the national government’s decision to construct new bridges interconnecting the four provinces of Cebu, Negros Oriental, Guimaras and Iloilo, Cebu Rep. Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr. said Friday.
“The integration of the four provinces is bound to spur more people to migrate to Metro Cebu in search of greener pasture, so we will definitely need those fast-moving elevated trains to move people around,” Gullas, a deputy majority leader, said.
“Metro Cebu needed the LRT system years ago—long before we dreamed of putting up two to 10-kilometer bridges coupling the four provinces. Now that the Department of Public Works and Highways has resolved to build those bridges, we need those overhead commuter trains all the more,” Gullas said.
He said people from as far as Panay Island will be encouraged to come to Cebu to look for jobs and other opportunities to earn a living.
“This is because we have the fastest-growing economy in the Visayas, and our P366 daily minimum wage for non-farm workers in the private sector is the highest outside Metro Manila, Calabarzon and Central Luzon,” he pointed out.
A greater number of students are also likely to troop to Cebu’s higher institutions of learning, according to Gullas.
The feasibility study for the Cebu LRT project has already been completed, and is now awaiting the evaluation and approval of the Department of Transportation, according to Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino.
“Cebu is ready for the LRT system. It is not that we want it. We need it,” Dino told members of the Mandaue City Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Gullas, for his part, acknowledged that the LRT project has gained traction under President Duterte’s administration, largely through Dino’s efforts.
“Of course, we are grateful to Secretary Dino for his support,” Gullas said.
Gullas has been pushing for the LRT system, which his grandfather, former Cebu Rep. and now Talisay City Mayor Eduardo Gullas, first proposed 10 years ago.
The younger Gullas went to the extent of renewing in Congress the bill that his grandfather originally introduced, seeking to provide for an LRT system for operation in Metro Cebu, which consists of Cebu City and 12 surrounding cities and municipalities.
“As long as the project is realized by executive fiat, we do not mind if the bill does not get passed by Congress,” Gullas said.
House Bill 787 proposes the first LRT line to run from Talisay to Mandaue, but Gullas said he would support a longer line from Carcar City all the way to Danao City “if that is what gets approved by the national government.”
“Of course, the greater the number of Cebuanos that will benefit from the project, the better,” he said.
“Just to give everybody a sense of how long the initial line might be, the ‘air distance’ between Talisay and Mandaue is around 15 kilometers, while the ‘air distance’ between Carcar and Danao is about 60 kilometers,” Gullas said.
“Air distance” refers to the distance between two destinations if traveled by air in a straight line.
Depending on the final length of the initial line, the LRT project is estimated to cost between P50 billion to P150 billion.
Meanwhile, the bridges linking the four provinces is expected to cost another P50 billion.