2018 Nat’l Budget Inclusion: Infra projects pushed to complement 3rd bridge

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Provincial Development Council has approved and endorsed to the Regional Development Council-7Cordova town's request for the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) component project’s inclusion in the national budget.

Leonides Ator, Cordova planning officer, said the component project is the Mactan road network upgrade, which includes, among others, the widening of existing roads and opening of new ones, in Cordova and Lapu-Lapu City.

Cordova Municipal Engineer Soripo Singculen said priorities include the widening of the existing Mactan Circumferential Road; opening of the 30-meter-wide coastal road from Pilipog to Gabi, Cordova leading to the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

Other components are the widening and/or rehabilitation of the Punta Engano road, Mactan Circumferential road, Gabi to Catarman to Pilipog Coastal road, Day-as to Poblacion (Bantayan) road, Generation Aviation and Quezon National Highways, M. Patalinghug Avenue to airport and at-grade road using MEPZ II road, at-grade roads to the Cordova boundary, at-grade road to M. Patalinghug Avenue, at-grade road to Gabi Bridge, among others.

At-grade roads are junctions or intersections where two or more roads meet or cross.

“These projects already fall outside the jurisdiction of the municipality of Cordova. These need funding from the national government because they are vital components in the implementation of the CCLEX,” Singculen said.

Once approved by RDC-7, these road projects will be forwarded to the national government for inclusion in the 2018 annual budget.

“The immediate implementations of these projects are expected to address future development needs,” read the PDC resolution.

Singculen said the proposed road rehabilitation projects would complement the third bridge connecting mainland Cebu to the island of Mactan.

“These are support infrastructure components of the third bridge,” he said, adding that the said roads would lessen traffic congestion and bottlenecks in the island’s major thoroughfares.

“We need the road project kay kun ma-implement na ang third bridge ang traffic mo-worsen pud sa Cordova going to Lapu-Lapu City,” he said.

Singculen said the 10-meter-wide Mactan Circumferential Road, for instance, has to be upgraded because it can no longer cope with the growing influx of vehicles.

He said another plan is to construct a coastal road from Barangay Gabi to Barangay Day-as, where the famous 10,000 Roses Café is located.

“This means that we are planning to open a coastal road that will surround the entire Cordova. More or less with a total length of 12 kilometers,” he said.

The 8.25-kilometer third bridge, which costs P27 billion, is projected to be completed in 2020 if construction would start this year.

To be built under a private-public partnership scheme, the project would enable the local government units of Cebu City and Cordova to provide their constituents with a badly needed infrastructure through private sector funding.

Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corporation, through subsidiary Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corporation, will design, build and operate the bridge. —/ RHM (FREEMAN)