Cebu-Cordova Bridge Aims to Ease Traffic, Foster Development in Cebu Province

The Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX), among the biggest infrastructure project outside Manila under President Rodrigo Duterte, is seen to stir up local economies in Cebu Province with a projected construction cost of P27.9 billion under the public-private partnership scheme with Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corporation (CCLEC).

Governor Hilario P. Davide III earlier expressed support of the move since the project’s conception and feasibility study way back 2015. Davide said the project “would certainly stir economic growth in the countryside.”

Davide added that the rapid urbanization in the cities creates disparity, thus the need to alleviate congestion in the urban core to trigger development and economic opportunities.

President Duterte will lead the groundbreaking ceremony of the project today, March 2, by conducting an aerial inspection in Cebu City side going to Virlo Public Market in Barangay Dapitan, Cordova town.

The toll bridge’s construction is set to start this year and anticipated to be completed by 2020.

With viaduct, toll plazas and causeways, it would ease the daily horrifying traffic congestion in Metro Cebu, said former Cordova town mayor and now Presidential Adviser on Legislative Affairs Adelino Sitoy.

Spanning 8.25 kilometers linking Mactan Island and mainland Cebu, the third bridge will become an alternative route in going to and from Mactan Cebu International Airport.

Cordova Mayor Mary Therese Sitoy-Cho said that starting from its construction phase, several jobs will be generated by the CCLEX providing extra earnings for Cordova residents. Aside from these jobs, Sitoy-Cho said that the project also means additional revenue source for the town through permits and taxes.

Sitoy-Cho added that the bridge will bring greater economic benefit not only in Cordova and Cebu City but to Cebu Province.

In 2016, the Cebu Provincial Board gave a nod to then Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy’s joint venture agreement with Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corporation (MPDTC) through CCLEC.

CCLEC is a subsidiary of MPDTC, one of the country’s investment holding firms known to have designed, financed and managed North Luzon Expressway, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway.

Last year, MPTDC legal consultant Aristotle Batuhan said Cordova town and Cebu City will each get at least P13 million a year. This will be the LGUs’ revenue from its one percent share of the projected P1.3 billion income in the first year of operation, he said.

Batuhan also added that to recover the construction cost (which includes the inflation over a four-year period), operating system, right-of-way cost, financing costs and toll facilities, MPTDC will operate the bridge for 35 years before the structure is turned over to the local government units.

During his audience with the members of the Provincial Board in 2016, MPTDC consultant Dante Bautista said a toll fee of P55 will be collected in the first year and will be increased to P89 in 2021.

The company, he said, will adopt a single-tolling system where a one-time fee will be collected from motorist, instead of paying it at several tolling stations.

The CCLEX is the Philippine’s first bridge to have a clearance of 51 meters from the water level and a wide horizontal clearance of 400 meters for ships to navigate. (JMB)

SOURCE: www.cebu.gov.ph