A SITE has already been identified for the proposed fourth bridge in Metro Cebu.
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 Director Edgar Tabacon said that the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) has proposed that it begin in the Mandaue City, Cansaga area in Consolacion and end in Barangay Pusok, Lapu-Lapu City.
DPWH also disclosed that the 74-kilometer Metro Cebu Expressway intended to ease traffic from Naga City to Danao City will now cost about half the P50 billion it was originally projected to cost after some roads were cut from the project.
“The total cost of the project (expressway) is now reduced to P28 billion from P50 billion due to the deletion of 16 distributor roads from the original 19 distributor roads,” Tabacon said.
The Metro Cebu Expressway is a south-north bypass road from Naga to Danao with distributor roads to Cebu South Road.
It has three segments: Segment 1, which is Talisay City-Cebu City-Mandaue City with a length of 26.80 kilometers; Segment 2, Consolacion-Liloan-Compostela-Danao City (29.80 kilometers); and Segment 3, Naga City-Minglanilla (17.15 kilometers).
Under the 2018 General Appropriations Act, P300 million has been allocated for the first part of the construction, which is in the Naga-Minglanilla segment, specifically in Barangay Pangdan in Naga, said National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) 7 Director Efren Carreon.
The amount will be used for civil works and road-right-of-way (RROW) acquisition comprising 2.5 kilometers for a six-lane roadway.
For 2019, another P300 million was allocated also for civil works and RROW acquisition for a two-kilometer, six-lane roadway.
“The remaining (portions) of Segment 3, including Segments 1 and 2, will be proposed under the public-private partnership scheme,” said Tabacon, who added that the DPWH Central Office was still formulating the appropriate implementation scheme for the project.
Fourth bridge
As for the fourth bridge to Mactan, DPWH gave more details on the project that will link the Cebu mainland to Mactan Island.
This bridge is part of the Mandaue-Lapu-Lapu Link Bridge with Mandaue Scenic Coastal Road project, which Neda 7 considers the top priority among the five priority projects meant to ease Metro Cebu traffic
“A pre-feasibility study for the project is currently being prepared as part of the Master Plan Study, which is scheduled for completion in December,” Carreon said.
Jica, through the Department of Transportation, is now conducting a Master Plan Study and Institutional Development on Urban Transport System in Metro Cebu.
The initial results of the study identified the five priority projects as the (1) Mandaue-Lapu-Lapu Link Bridge with Mandaue Scenic Coastal Road, (2) Metro Cebu Expressway, (3) 14-kilometer Urban Mass Rapid Transit (UMRT) Coastal Line linking Cebu-Mandaue-Mactan (airport), (4) 25-kilometer UMRT Central Line traversing Talisay-Cebu-Mandaue-Consolacion, and (5) Area Traffic Control System.
Two bridges already link Lapu-Lapu in Mactan to Mandaue in the mainland. A third one, the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway, would connect Cordova town in Mactan to Cebu City in the mainland, by 2021.