CEBU CITY, Philippines – Udenna Corporation’s Cebu monorail project  has been submitted to the National Economic and Development Authority’s (NEDA) Investment Coordination Committee (ICC), a Palace official said.

The P78.9-million project is an unsolicited bid of Udenna Corporation, chaired by Davao City-based Dennis Uy, a known friend of President Rodrigo Duterte.  (READ: Cebu congressman backs Udenna’s bid for monorail project to address ‘traffic crisis’) 



”The documents pertaining to the monorail project have been submitted to NEDA after DOTr completed them,” Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino said in a statement on Wednesday, January 29.

Dino expected the NEDA-ICC technical board to review the project by the 3rd week of February.

Dino said he spoke with NEDA chief Ernesto Pernia about fast-tracking the project.

The monorail is part of a planned intermodal transportation system where modernized jeepneys would feed passengers to Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT) stations, while the BRT would then connect to the monorail.

The Udenna proposal, which is backed by Cebu City Mayor Edgar Labella, will be subjected to a Swiss challenge after the NEDA-ICC evaluation.

Dino said the monorail is designed to hold between 12,000 to 15,000 passengeres per direction per hour. 



Metro Cebu has been intensifying its public transportation and infrastructure projects due to worsening traffic congestion. In October 2019, the Cebu provincial government declared a traffic crisis over the entire island. 



Despite being a metropolitan area of over 2.5 million people, there is no mass transportation system in Cebu aside from the traditional buses, taxis, jeeps, tricycles and motorcycles-for-hire.



Other major projects include a third Mactan Bridge, whic is being constructed to connect Cordova town with Cebu City’s South Road Properties area. 

(READ: 3rd Cebu bridge almost halfway done)

NEDA had approved a fourth Mactan bridge, which would connect Barangay Ibo in Lapu Lapu City to Barangay Paknaan in Mandaue City.
 It would directly connect Mactan to the northern towns. 


Also planned is the 74-kilometer Metro Cebu Expressway that would connect Naga City in the south to Danao City in the north.

President Rodrigo Duterte said in a speech during the recent Sinulog Festival that Cebu should prioritize building its infrastructure and mass transportation systems to keep up with the island’s economic development. He also promised to find funding for the projects. – Rappler.com