The Aboitiz group is ramping up its deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) as a clean solution for transport to align with the decarbonization goals of the country and the world.

The latest EV fleet rolled out by the Aboitiz firm had been Cebu’s COMET Buses, which was developed via its partnership with electric manufacturer GET Philippines.

According to the company, the electric buses will serve at least four routes: the Cebu North Route (SM City Consolacion- Cebu IT Park); Cebu South Route (Minglanilla- Cebu IT Park); Cebu-Mactan Route (Gaisano Grand Mall- Cebu IT Park, with a pick-up and drop-off point at The Outlets at Pubelo Verde in MEZ2 Estate); and the Cebu City Route (Shopwise Mambaling- Cebu- IT Park).

According to AIC Economic Estates Head Rafael Fernandez de Mesa, “the push for a sustainable and eco-friendly transportation network like GET Cebu is key to future-proof the estate and laying the foundation for next-generation smart cities;” and this is done alongside the transformative phase happening at the Mactan Economic Zone 2 (MEZ2) estate.

The outlets at Pueblo Verde, being one of the routes of the GET Cebu Comet buses, is located inside the MEZ2 estate, which is a property development operated by AIC Economic Estate in partnership with the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

For the ecozone estate, in particular, De Mesa said their company will “create resilient spaces where we can also ensure the overall health and wellness of our community and the environment.”

He added that “strategic land use, a good, flexible development plan, and a transport network that addresses traffic and congestion with minimal environmental impact essentially prepare us for the future needs of the communities we serve.”

For EV manufacturer GET Philippines, company president Freddie Tinga conveyed that “the development of the COMET buses addressed the need for safe and sustainable transport with a positive impact to the environment.”

He further stated “we’re seeing two things that are happening in the world today that could be ideal if we could bring them to the Philippines. One is the rise of the electric vehicle to replace internal engines, and the other is the app as a transport solution. Here, we felt that here was the opportunity to put those two things together and create a holistic transport solution for developing markets.”

Gordon Alan Joseph, president of Philinsure and Cebu Leads Foundation, indicated that the vision for GET Cebu and the rollout of EVs had been anchored on “sustainability as a new normal.”

He stressed “if there’s anything that the pandemic taught us, plus the (natural) disasters we’ve had before...we cannot keep doing what we are doing to the environment. We cannot let our commuters sit in diesel smoke from poorly-designed and poor-quality vehicles.”