Capitol Eyes Cebu-Danao Road in P26 Billion Metro Cebu Expressway

An alternative road that will cut short travel time from Cebu City to Danao City is currently being pushed to be counted in the P26 billion-road project under Metro Cebu Expressway plan, a Capitol official said.

During the full deliberation of the Provincial Development Council (PDC) full council meeting on Tuesday, Vice Governor Agnes Magpale requested the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 to include the improvement of a ‘less travelled’ road located in Compostela town.

Magpale, a Danao City resident, said she once passed this road from Cebu City going to Compostela.

It shortened her travel time as she would no longer have to pass through Mandaue City, Consolacion and Liloan towns, she said.

The Provincial Government, Magpale said, will be improving this alternative road anytime this year specifically the portion within Compostela.

The alternative rough road according to Magpale stretches from barangays Mabini and Paril in Cebu City, to barangays Dapdap, Mulao, Basak, Cambayog in Compostela, until it reaches barangay Canamucan, Compostela town.

From Compostela, it will be easier for motorist to reach Danao City proper, said Magpale.

DPWH 7 Regional Planning and Design Chief Engineer Nonato Paylado said they will raise Magpale’s concern in their head office.

Once they accepted Magpale’s request, the Cebu City-Compostela alternative road will be included in Metro Cebu Expressway.

“We will try to raise that issue of including this alternative road in our head office,” Paylado told the Provincial Information Office.

DPWH sought PDC’s endorsement to the Regional Development Council (RDC) over the proposed P26 billion Metro Cebu Expressway, a fenced road that will run 74 kilometers from Naga City in the south to Danao City in the north.

Set to start next year, Paylado said the six-lane express road project will be built in three segments and will include tunnel and overpass components and with arterial roads that will cut through the countryside.

Segment 1 will be the central area covering Talisay City to Mandaue City; Segment 2 includes Consolacion to Danao City and Segment 3 from Minglanilla to Naga City.

Paylado said they will prioritize the construction of Segment 3 (Minglanilla to Naga City) because it’s ‘cheaper and less tedious’ to construct due to existing barangay roads.

“Based on that data of Vice Gov. Magpale, they will develop on top of the local road in Segment 2. We will try to raise that in our central office of DPWH if possible to include that also in our priority realignments kay naa na man silay gisugdan diha,” said Paylado.

Community Economic Development Corporation (CEDCO), the private engineering consultancy firm commissioned by DPWH to conduct feasibility study on Metro Cebu Expressway, made the presentation in behalf of the highways office during the PDC meeting.

CEDCO’s Engr. Lea Negre said the project is set to meet Metro Cebu’s traffic demand by 2050.

She added that they expect the vehicle congestion to worsen in the next few years with the influx of major infrastructure projects, including bus rapid transit, international containerized port in Consolacion, third Mactan-Mandaue bridge and airport expansion.

Passengers in Metro Cebu are also expected to increase to 1.2 million by 2037.

Moreover, Paylado assured the members of the PDC that the Metro Cebu Expressway road project will be far from watershed areas and the tunnels will be kilometers away from Cebu’s fault lines.

cebu.gov.ph