Wednesday, December 05, 2007 Council backs study on building Bohol-Cebu bridge
THE Provincial Development Council endorsed the feasibility study for the proposed Bohol-Cebu Multi-Access Friendship Bridge yesterday.
Bohol Acting Provincial Planning and Development Counsel John Titus Vistal presented the project to members of the council just as he did before the infrastructure development committee (IDC) of the Regional Development Council (RDC) 7.
The bridge, Vistal said, will make access to water, power and broadband connection easier for both provinces.
The planned bridge will link Getafe in Bohol and Cordova in Cebu.
However, RDC 7 co-chairperson Norris Oculam, also a private sector representative, said that the approval is only for the P80-million feasibility study. Funds for the study will be sourced through a grant from the Economic Development Cooperative Fund of Korea.
If found feasible, the 90-kilometer bridge is expected to cost at least P20 billion. But implementation will still be in three to five years, said Oculam.
Before the proposal for the feasibility will be endorsed to the RDC full council within the month, Vistal presented the project for recommendation to the Cebu PDC after it was approved by the Province of Bohol.
Vistal said that funding for the project will be made through soft loans.
The study was approved by the Cebu PDC after some Provincial Board (PB) members raised some concerns.
PB Member Wilfredo Caminero asked if the project gets the endorsement of the PDC, will it mean that the local government unit will also commit to the funding of the bridge.
“There will be specific arrangements but nothing is set in stone yet,” was Vistal’s answer.
Also approved yesterday was a P17-million children investment plan that seeks to provide feeding programs to at least 14 towns through their respective day care centers.
The feeding program will also include the mothers and even those that are not malnourished.
PDC also approved the Grameen Banking Scheme, which won for its founder a Nobel Prize for addressing poverty particularly in Bangladesh. The scheme allows loans for indigent people, who could not get them in banks, for livelihood purposes. (JGA)
