A CHANGE in the location of the proposed 4th Cebu-Mactan Bridge as suggested by the Lapu-Lapu City Government would raise the project cost and require new approval from the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) and the Neda Board.
“In fact, the option proposed by the Lapu-Lapu City actually increases the cost significantly. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, to the tune of P7 to P8 billion,” Gordon Alan Joseph, chairman of the Regional Development Council’s (RDC) infrastructure development committee (IDC), said during the full council meeting on June 18, 2021.
He noted that the project could “barely hurdle” the 10 percent minimum economic internal rate of return (EIRR) required by the ICC.
An increase in cost without corresponding increase in project benefits may result in an EIRR that is lower than 10 percent and prompt the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) to disapprove the project, Joseph added.
The project, estimated to cost P76.412 billion, is funded by a 119.225 billion yen loan (roughly P52 billion). It has two components: a four-lane 3.3-kilometer (km) bridge, with an elevated four-lane viaduct; and a four-lane 4.9-km coastal road with an elevated viaduct.
Lapu-Lapu City has refused to grant a permit to executing agency Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 for the conduct of surveys for the detailed engineering design (DED) study, hindering project implementation.
Joseph said the IDC has instructed the DPWH 7 to present again to Lapu-Lapu City, in the presence of the IDC and RDC 7, the advantages and disadvantages of each option.
“The project is being held up. It is a project that is agreed on the national level and so, the reason for this resolution is to seek, to ask for support of the RDC in the next scheduled series of consultations in Lapu-Lapu City where the pros, cons, disadvantages and advantages of this project will be once again presented to Lapu-Lapu City,” he said.