|
THE AMA Group Holdings Corp. will complete by midyear
the feasibility study of a rail system in the province of Cebu, an
official of the Department of Transportation and Communication said.
Guiling Mamondiong, DOTC
undersecretary for rail, said the feasibility study is expected to
be finished by June. “The government is keen on fast-tracking
infrastructure projects so the earlier that the study can be
finished, the better,” he said.
The AMA has also expressed
intention to bid for the construction of the Manila Light Rail
Transit (LRT) Line 1 south extension project amounting to $683
million. It will run southward to the cities of Parañaque and Las
Piñas and the neighboring municipalities of Bacoor, Imus and
Dasmariñas, in the Cavite province.
Mamondiong added that the Metro
Cebu railway project could take just three years to be finished
after the project and FS are approved.
The project will run the
71-kilometer stretch through Metro Cebu from the municipality of
Carcar in the south to Danao City in the north.
Metro Cebu covers the cities of
Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Talisay and the municipalities of
Minglanilla, Consolacion, Liloan, Compostela and Cordova.
The project, estimated to cost
$636 million, will be constructed in three phases: Phase 1 would
start from Talisay to Mandaue with Cebu City as center of the main
line, Phase 2 would extend the main line farther south from Talisay
down to Carcar and Phase 3 would stretch the main line farther north
from Mandaue up to Danao.
Traffic congestion in Metro Cebu
is heaviest for motor vehicles plying the Talisay-Cebu-Mandaue
routes and vice versa.
Earlier, House Bills 56 and 3006
were filed in Congress seeking for the construction and operation of
a light rail transport (LRT) in Cebu City and Metro Cebu.
The rail system is seen to solve
the worsening traffic situation in Cebu and improve the mobility of
the greater majority of the people.
--Darwin G. Amojelar
|
