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Sunday, June 26, 2005
Public works office eyes toll on coastal road's users
By Gingging A. Campaña
CEBU CITY -- That coastal road will eventually be opened to motorists, but possibly not for free.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has ordered a study on the possibility of collecting toll from motorists who will use the Cebu South Coastal Road, when the P2.5-billion tunnel is completed in 2008.
South Reclamation Project (SRP) manager Nigel Paul Villarete said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) "might be in a bind, as far as the budget for maintenance of the roads and bridges in Cebu City is concerned."
"That's why they are eyeing the Cebu City Government to maintain the entire project. One option is to collect toll from those who will be passing through the coastal road and the tunnel," Villarete said.
"The mayor is not against the idea. Nor is he proposing it. He just instructed me to study it," Villarete said.
The tunnel, now estimated to cost P2.5 billion from the original cost of P2.246 billion, is approximately 0.97 kilometers long.
It consists of a 610-meter twin box tunnel and a 360-meter reinforced concrete retaining structure, passing underneath the Malacañang sa Sugbo to the Plaza Independencia and exiting at McArthur Blvd.
Apart from the lack of funds for the construction of the tunnel, DPWH and the Investment Coordinating Council (ICC) are discussing who should manage and maintain the facility.
Villarete has confirmed that there is no money available for the tunnel yet, as the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the official Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) arm of the Government of Japan, has yet to sign a loan agreement with the Philippine Government.
JBIC financed the 12.291-billion yen construction of the SRP and the main component of the coastal road.
The tunnel is the only segment needed to complete the entire Cebu South Coastal Road Project.
The National Government needs to put up a 25 percent counterpart fund for the budget, which is being proposed for inclusion in the 27th Yen Loan Package of JBIC.
Cebu City Councilor Gabriel Leyson, chairman of the council committee on infrastructure and foreign-funded projects, has asked the Regional Development Council (RDC) that he and RDC private sector representative Emmanuel Rabacal be sent to Manila.
hey want to attend meetings with DPWH, ICC and the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) on the procurement of the tunnel.
"This way, we could help pursue with President Arroyo to act on the budget for the tunnel and be updated on the developments of the coastal road project," Leyson said.
Leyson is worried that the National Government cannot afford the counterpart fund. But Villarete assured that JBIC will approve the loan.
Villarete said there is no way that JBIC will leave its projects half-baked.
The DPWH 7 Project Management Office, which is implementing the coastal road and the proposed tunnel, is now working on the approach of the tunnel on the five-hectare offshore platform, near the Compania Maritima. (Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)
(June 26, 2005 issue)
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