BAGUIO CITY – The city government supports the aggressive promotion of the use of proven, efficient and environmentally-friendly transport in the city once all the issues and concerns relative to maintenance and their effects of the existing mode of transport shall have been addressed by the proponents.
Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan said the local government will lead in the replacement of gas and diesel-powered service vehicles to solar-powered vehicles once pertinent issues and concerns on the expected effect of the solar-powered vehicles to the source of income of jeepney and taxi drivers who are currently operating gas and diesel-fed motor vehicles.
“We have to satisfactorily address the issues and concerns raised by various sectors in relation to the operation of alternative modes of transportation in our city because we really need to individually and collectively work on things to help clean our city’s air from pollutants, especially the emissions coming from motor vehicles,” Domogan stressed.
Currently, a solar-powered bus courtesy of the Glad to Be Green program of businesswoman Gladys Vergara-de Vera is now being tested in the city to promote the use of alternative modes of transportation that will significantly contribute in improving the city’s air quality.
The local chief executive said that issues on maintenance and the purchase cost of the vehicle will have to be addressed by the proponents to show our people that it would be much cheaper and beneficial in the long run to both motorists and commuters, as well as the environment, once the green bus will be used for private and public transport.
Furthermore, he added that proponents must also be able to show that using the solar-powered bus will be much cheaper to motorists upon the expiration of the 60-day experimental period so that local residents will be convinced to patronize the use of efficient and environmentally-friendly modes of transportation.
On the other hand, Mayor Domogan said that the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) Governing Council supported the conduct of a full blown feasibility study for the use of an unmanned Automated Guideway Transit (AGT) system in Baguio and La Trinidad.
According to him, the results of the feasibility study of the AGT system, an invention of the Department of Science and Technology, will determine whether or not the environmentally-friendly mode of transportation that intends to use train coaches will be feasible considering the more than P7 billion required to put up the project in both the La Trinidad and Baguio lines.
The 5.2-kilometer La Trinidad line from the Provincial Capitol to the Slaughterhouse Compound will have a total project cost of at least P4 billion while the Baguio line from the Bonifacio Rutonda up to Luneta Hill will cost the project proponents at least P3 billion.
Domogan claimed the multi-billion AGT system project will surely be undertaken through the government’s public-private partnership (PPP) for the immediate realization of the use of the alternative mode of transportation aimed at improving the state of the city’s environment./By Dexter A. See
