WB lends $64.6 M for Manila bus rapid transit

By Czeriza Valencia (The Philippine Star)
Updated March 18, 2017 – 12:00am
http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/03/18/1682082/wb-lends-64.6-m-manila-bus-rapid-transit

The $64.6 million funding from the World Bank and the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) will provide bulk of the total $109.4 million cost for the Metro Manila BRT Line 1 Project.

The remaining $44.8 million will be provided by the Philippine government as counterpart funding.

The WB-managed CTF provides developing countries with resources for scaling up clean technologies that have strong potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Metro Manila BRT, which will run on dedicated lanes like trains, will service an estimated 300,000 passengers daily along the busy thoroughfares of España and Quezon Ave.

The project will be implemented by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) in coordination with the local governments of Manila and Quezon City.

“By providing an affordable and convenient public transport option, this project will help make job and education opportunities more accessible, especially for the poor residing around the BRT route,” said World Bank country director Mara Warwick noting 55 percent of public transportation users in Metro Manila are women.

“High-capacity transport systems like BRT help reduce greenhouse gases, boosting the country’s contribution to the global fight against climate change,” she added.

The loan will provide for the development of support infrastructure along the BRT route which include terminals and stations, segregation barriers, sidewalks, warning and direction signs and pedestrian crossing facilities.

Other components of the projects include the development of the IT and marketing system for the BRT, traffic engineering and management measures along the project corridor, as well as enhancements of surrounding areas to promote accessibility to terminals.

“Bus systems like BRT are cost-effective options for reducing emissions of harmful gases that cause climate change,” said Zhihong Zhang, senior program coordinator of the Clean Technology Fund.

“Implementation of this project alone will prevent the release of around 2.6 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents into the atmosphere in the next 20 years. Transport is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions globally and projects like this show the road to a cleaner future,” he added.

Pioneered in Curitiba, Brazil in 1974, BRT systems are growing in popularity throughout the world for efficiency and affordability. Around 150 cities worldwide are now operating or developing BRT systems. These include Bogotá, Boston, Cleveland, Curitiba, Hartford, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Oakland, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Porto Alegre, São Paulo, Sydney, Ahmedabadn and Jakarta, among others.