Ongoing pile works for the 3rd bridge

BRIDGE-BUILDING. Pile works are being made as foundation of the two towers that will support the main bridge of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway that will connect Cordova town in Mactan Island to mainland Cebu. (SunStar foto / Allan Cuizon)
BRIDGE-BUILDING. Pile works are being made as foundation of the two towers that will support the main bridge of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway that will connect Cordova town in Mactan Island to mainland Cebu. (SunStar foto / Allan Cuizon)

AN official of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway Corp. (CCLEC) yesterday said they are meeting the timetable of the construction of the third bridge that will link Cordova town in Mactan Island to Cebu City.

CCLEC president and general manager Allan Alfon said the third bridge is scheduled to be completed by mid-2021, in time for the commemoration of the 500th year of Christianity in the Philippines.

“We prioritize now the pipe-setting because we are making a good foundation (of the third bridge). The public is assured the whole thing will be completed by midyear of 2021,” Alfon said.

CCLEC is a joint venture of Acciona Construction of Spain and First Balfour Inc. and D.M. Consunji Inc. of the Philippines, which came up with the design.

CCLEC is a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., which will operate the third bridge for a period of 35 years.

Alfon is an engineer and a commissioner of the Cebu Port Commission, a policy-making body of the Cebu Port Authority.

He said that there are packages of the project like the design, which are already completed, and there are packages, which are almost completed.

Secretary Adelino Sitoy of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office said the third bridge will complement the future Cordova-Jetafe, Bohol Bridge, which is undergoing feasibility study.

In another development, the updated feasibility study report for the 74-kilometer Metro Cebu Expressway is on its final review by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Central Office.

Engr. Nonie Paylado, head of the planning and design division of the DPWH 7, said the evaluation of the project is expected to be completed this month before it will be assessed by the National Economic and Development Authority-Investment Coordination Committee (Neda-ICC).

He said the updated feasibility study includes the fair market valuation of land that will be used as road right-of-way (ROW), based on the new ROW Law.

The expressway is estimated to cost P28 billion. Some P15 billion will be used to purchase land that will be used as road ROW, while the P13 billion will be for the civil works.

During the Regional Development Council (RDC) 7 meeting last week in Dumaguete City, Paylado said that an additional P300 million under the National Expenditure Program for 2019 was earmarked for the project.

A P300-million allocation was first released under the 2018 General Appropriations Act (GAA) for the civil works and the purchase of land that will be used as road ROW for the Segment 3 of the project.

Last July, civil works began at the junction area on the Naga-Uling Road in Barangay Pangdan in the City of Naga.

The expressway, which is expected to cut travel time from the south to the north by an hour as it bypasses the congested main highway, will traverse the mountains of the City of Naga and the cities of Cebu and Mandaue and the towns of Minglanilla, Consolacion, Liloan and Compostela until it reaches Danao City.

The project will be implemented in segments.

Segment 1 has a length of 26.8 kilometer and will connect Talisay to the cities of Cebu and Mandaue.

Segment 2 has a length of 29.7 kilometers and will start in Consolacion and end in Danao City, traversing the towns of Liloan and Compostela.

Segment 3 has a length of 17.15 kilometers and will start from the City of Naga and connect to the town of Minglanilla.

The project, which is expected to completed in 2022, is part of the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program. (EOB, SCG)

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