A lawmaker from Cebu wants a light rail transit (LRT) system for the country’s second largest metropolitan area included in the government’s list of projects under the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.

In a statement, House Assistant Majority Leader Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr.—representing the first district of Cebu—said an LRT line was the only way Metro Cebu could cope with future demand for a fast, safe and reliable public transport system.

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“Owing to rapid population growth, we will find it increasingly difficult to move people around a highly congested Metro Cebu in the years ahead,” Gullas said. “Since most of our thoroughfares can no longer be widened, the options left are for us to either build new road tunnels underground, or to put up an overhead LRT line.”

The National Economic and Development Authority’s PPP Center is in charge of identifying potential projects, and facilitating proposals and feasibility studies.

Metro Cebu’s population is expected to double from 2.5 million to 5 million by 2050, according to a study of the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

The main urban center in the Visayas, Metro Cebu groups the seven cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Danao, Talisay, Naga and Carcar, plus the six municipalities of Consolacion, Liloan, Compostela, Cordova, Minglanilla and San Fernando.

Gullas earlier reintroduced the bill earlier filed by his grandfather, Eduardo, seeking the establishment of the Cebu LRT system for operation in Cebu City. As proposed by the younger Gullas in House Bill 1338, the Cebu LRT line would run between Talisay and Mandaue.

Under the scheme, new railways would also be provided from Talisay to the municipality of Dalaguete in the south, and from Mandaue to the municipality of Sogod in the north.

Gullas said at least one Cebu undertaking—the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport passenger terminal rehabilitation, expansion and operation deal —had been included in the lineup of eight PPP projects, worth a total of P156.1 billion, that the government intended to bid out soon.

Other PPP projects set to be awarded in the coming months are the P60.6-billion LRT Line 1 Cavite extension program; the P35-billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway deal; the P25.6-billion North Luzon Expressway-South Luzon Expressway Connector Road; and the P8.8-billion School Infrastructure Project phase 2.

The P5.7-billion Philippine Orthopedic Center modernization; the P1.7-billion Automated Fare Collection System for the Metro Rail Transit and the LRT; and the P1.2-billion Angat Hydro Electric Power Plant auxiliary turbines 4 and 5 rehabilitation deal are also due to be awarded.

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