THE CITY Administrator’s Office (CAO) could not give a date for the start of the Davao City Public Transportation Modernization Project or Davao Bus Project, as the office still awaits funding from the national government.
Atty. Tristan Dwight Domingo, Davao Bus Project Manager, said the national government has not been very clear on the standing of the project.
“Medyo complicated actually ang project maong ang pundo unta nga maggikan sa national government, i-sigurado gyud unta nila, diha ta naglisod,” Domingo said in an interview with Davao City Disaster Radio on Wednesday.
The project will reportedly need a total of 120 employees but the city has employed only 30, most are assigned to secure the assistance of affected PUJ drivers and operators.
“If we are to hire transportation experts, engineers, and even office workers, the city government has sufficient funds to do so. However, we cannot employ them yet since there is no work to be done for now,” he added.
He said the weekly capacity training for the drivers and operators registered 90% in attendance but the efforts would only go to waste if the project does not materialize.
He added most of the drivers and operators have expressed they wanted to get the financial cash assistance and put up business or other purposes, however, the city has yet to provide them the promised financial assistance as there is no finality yet.
“Gusto na nila madawat to [cash assistance] kay nadawat na nila ma phase out na puhon ang jeepney, kaso dili pa nato mahatag kay kung ihatag nato, mangundang pud silag pamasada, unsa pud sakyan sa atong mga katawhan?” he said.
PUJ drivers will receive a cash grant amounting to not less than P80,000 each, while the franchise operators will receive not less than P100,000 for each unit, under the Social Development Program of the City Social Welfare and Development Office.
The P74-billion project will be sourced from the Asian Development Bank (60%), the national government (38%), and 2% will come from the city.
Once operational, there will be 31 total routes identified with over 1,000 bus stops, to serve more than an estimated 800,000 passengers daily.
Mayor Sebastian Duterte in his 2nd SOCA on Aug. 7, doubted if the national administration would fund the project.
“Medyo menos ang nation-building karon particularly atoa in relation to the administration, so I doubt nga butangan na nila og kwarta. I do not want to be pessimistic but I have to be realistic,” the mayor stressed.
Last July 2023, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. witnessed the signing of a loan agreement between the Department of Finance and the Asian Development Bank, however, he failed to mention any big-ticket projects for Davao in his latest State of the Nation Address.
