DPWH chief on cable cars: It's nice to have, but maybe in the near future

Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Manuel Bonoan said an aerial cable car system is one of the things the Philippines “can look forward to,” but added that the focus for now is on improving the country's land transportation.

“It’s probably one of the things that we can look forward to but at this point in time pagtuunan muna natin ang land traffic. It’s nice to have, siguro in the near future,” Bonoan said in the latest episode of The Mangahas Interviews.

He said the alternative transportation is ideal “if the economy will be able to sustain” its growth.

“If the economy will be able to sustain ‘yung growth, I think pwede naman ‘yung mga ganyang transportation mode, it is already adopted in other countries,” he added.

Senator Robinhood Padilla earlier proposed the use of cable cars as solution to the traffic woes in Metro Manila.

“Napagaralan na po ito ng mga experto galing sa bansang France sa pamumuno ng kanilang ambassador na nag-alok pa na sila ang gagawa nito at dito po ipinanganak ang idea ng 4.5 kilometers along the Santolan-Eastweood-Pasig corridor,” Padilla had said.

(Experts from France have studied this, led by its ambassador, who offered to do the project, and this is where the idea of the 4.5 kilometers along the Santolan-Eastwood-Pasig corridor orginated.)

In June 2021, then Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the proposed $100-million Manila Urban Car Cable project of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) was already up for approval of the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC).

Under the proposal, France expressed willingness to provide financing support through a concessional loan. The French government already granted €450,000 to the government for a feasibility study on the project.

The proposed project initially involves the construction of a cable-propelled mass transport system, which will be mostly aligned with the Marikina River profile.

It is proposed to start with the Santolan Station of the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT2) in Marikina City, with stations located in Libis, Quezon City; Eastwood, Quezon City; Santolan, Pasig City; Manggahan, Pasig City; and Rosario, Pasig City.—Sundy Locus/LDF, GMA News