CCLEx construction to start in December

CEBU, Philippines — Full-blast construction of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEx) will start in December, a key official said yesterday.

Allan Alfon, president and general manager of Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway Corp. (CCLEC), the company is now on the final stages of negotiations to award to a general contractor the "Design and Build" contract of the toll bridge which will connect Cebu mainland and Mactan Island via Cordova.

"Fortunately we're now on the final stages of negotiations to award to the 'Design and Build' contract," he told The FREEMAN.

"We'd like to award within this month," the official added.

After the award, he said "geotechnical investigation" will then follow, which will take about two months before the actual construction can start.

"By then geotechnical investigation of the channel's strata follows as basis of design of footings and foundations which will take about two months," Alfon said.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) had said its subsidiary Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) would borrow P20 billion this year to fund the construction of CCLEx.

MPTC President Rodrigo Franco had said in previous reports that MPIC could also tap the debt market though bank loans for the P20 billion budget.

The fund-raising for the Cebu project would depend on the final project cost but it's pegged at approximately P20 billion, he had noted.

The project will be funded through a combination of debt, internal cash and equity.

"The equity contribution of MPIC for the CCLEx will be sourced internally, the infrastructure conglomerate had said in a stock exchange filing.

MPTC, the tollways arm of MPIC.

The 8.25-kilometer toll bridge will connect Cebu City to Mactan Island via Cordova, envisioned to decongest the traffic in the two existing bridges (Marcelo Fernan Bridge and Mandaue Bridge) between Mactan and Cebu, due to the worsening traffic situation in the area. It is located around 7.5 kilometers south of Mandaue Bridge and will take off from the Cebu South Coastal Road crossing the Mactan channel to Mactan Island.

This year MPIC has set a P79-billion capital expenditure budget from P40.5 billion last year. Of the total spending budget, P22 billion-P24 billion will be spent for the construction of more toll roads.

In 2016, MPIC reported a core net income of P12.1 billion, up 17 percent from the P10.3 billion posted in 2015, attributed to robust traffic growth on its toll roads; expanded power portfolio; continuing growth in the hospital business; first full-year contribution from its rail operations; and profitable entry into the logistics business.

MPIC's toll roads business accounted for P3.5 billion or 23 percent of its net operating income.

MPIC -- which has investments in water utilities, toll roads, electricity distribution, healthcare services and light rail -- is one of the three key Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd. together with Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc. (FREEMAN)