Wednesday, February 28, 2007 Capitol to bid out P5B highway
IF plans push through, Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr. said the Capitol will publish internationally this June the bidding for the “biggest project in the 400-year history of Cebu” – the P5-billion transaxial highway that will have water, power and agricultural components.
Sanchez, chairman of the Provincial Board committee on infrastructure, said they are just finishing the last details of the “pre-feasibility study” that they are doing to come up with the terms of reference for the bidding.
It will be the winning bidder who will come up with the engineering plans and other project details.
But even before the plans are finished, at least three companies from Malaysia, Singapore and China are already inquiring about the proposed undertaking.
Cost
The United Engineers of Malaysia, a government-owned corporation, already sent its top officials to Cebu to discuss the matter.
The Cebu Provincial Government does not intend to shoulder the cost of the project. An interested private company will take care of the cost, and it has yet to be decided whether a build-operate-transfer or any other scheme will be implemented.
The plan includes some P2 billion worth of road traversing the mountains to add to the existing stretch to connect Santander town in the south to Daanbantayan town in the north.
The highway will be 300 kilometers, but there is already an existing road stretch so what the winning bidder will construct is the remaining 120 kilometers.
Aside from the road, Sanchez said that also included are a system for distribution of potable water (P1 billion), windpower system (P1 billion) and pipelines for water that will be used for “agro-environmental” purposes (P1 billion).
Sanchez, a civil engineer, said it will take three years to finish all components of the project.
When the project is finished, Sanchez believes there will be reverse migration in Cebu and Cebu City will be decongested because the rural areas will be accessible.
Also, he projects that the Province will earn P250 million more each year from real property taxes that will increase because of the expansion in commercial and industrial lands. This is aside from his projected income of P2 billion that the Capitol will have from both the water and power systems. (JPM)
