SIX big-ticket projects, including a new international container port, an international airport, bus transit system, two bridges, expressways and coastal road were among the priority projects in Central Visayas revealed by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Friday, Aug. 11, 2023.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the major projects are the New Dumaguete International Airport, New Cebu International Container Port in Consolacion, and the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (CBRT).
Meanwhile, DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan revealed that two of the 12 Inter-Island Linkage Bridge Program projects were in the region, namely the 4th Mactan-Cebu Bridge and Coastal Road Construction Project (8.68 kilometers) and the Panglao-Tagbilaran City Offshore Bridge Connector (2.71 kilometers).
Included among DPWH’s priority projects is the construction of the 56.9-kilometer Metro Cebu Expressway from Naga City to Danao City.
Bautista and Bonoan were in Cebu with other key national government officials for the 2023 Post State of the Nation Discussion and Philippine Economic Briefing in Marco Polo Plaza Cebu on Friday.
Transportation
Bautista said the DOTr has 42 ongoing major projects in the Visayas region, three of which are in Central Visayas.
He said the New Dumaguete Airport in the town of Bacong, Negros Oriental to be constructed for P17.05 billion would replace the existing Dumaguete (Sibulan) Airport, in order to increase annual passenger capacity to 2.4 million from the present 545,278, and annual flights to 19,381 from the current 4,004.
The lot where the new airport will be transferred is under the procurement process, Bautista said, adding that it will be funded through Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the South Korean Government.
Another DOTr project funded through ODA is the New Cebu International Container Port (NCICP) in Consolacion, Cebu, as the existing Port of Cebu in Cebu City is already reaching its limit and needs expansion, Bautista said.
With a project cost of P9.195 billion, the NCICP will have berthing space for two large ships with 2,000-container capacity and the facility will also be equipped with four cranes inside a 25- hectare reclaimed island.
SunStar Cebu reported last year that a Korean firm had already qualified for the post-qualification process after putting in the lowest bid for the construction of this port, the loan agreement of which was signed in 2018 yet.
BRT
Bautista also assured that the ongoing construction of the CBRT Package 1 would be completed by yearend, after it was hit by controversy last June involving unreleased mobilization funds to the contractor.
The Chinese contractor Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Group Co. Ltd., which had begun work on the project in February, revealed that it had not received the initial mobilization fund, which was 10 percent of the total contract price, from the DOTr. The agency later produced the P90 million mobilization fund.
The contractor already made a promise to the Secretary to finish all civil works by December 2023, Bautista said.
The P900-million Package 1 involves creating the BRT infrastructure from the Cebu South Bus Terminal on N. Bacalso Ave. to the entire stretch of Osmeña Blvd. going to the Cebu Provincial Capitol.
The entire BRT project has a budget of P16.3 billion divided into three packages, running from Talisay City to the northern part of Cebu City.
Port, airport, monorail
In addition, Bautista said the DOTr was collaborating with the Cebu Provincial Government for the construction of the Bantayan Port in northern Cebu.
He added that for the modernization of the Bohol-Panglao International Airport, the agency had taken into consideration the public-private partnership (PPP) unsolicited program.
DOTr is also working with a private sector proponent of an unsolicited proposal for the construction of the first monorail system in Cebu.
Roads and bridges
DPWH Secretary Bonoan said that for 2023, the government has allocated P170 billion in investment funds for the Visayas region.
To finish the ongoing construction of the Metro Cebu Expressway Project with a length of 56.9 kilometers and a total project cost of P95.94 billion from Naga City to Danao City, Bonoan said two of the three segments will be funded and implemented through a PPP program.
Since 2018, only 4.55 kilometers of the first segment of the project has been constructed along Naga City. Bonaon stressed that the project must be finished to address the traffic congestion in Metro Cebu.
He also expressed confidence that the construction of the 4th Mactan-Cebu Bridge along with the Coastal Road Construction Project will start by 2024.
The P76.41 billion project is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Other local DPWH projects to address the traffic congestion in Cebu City include the Guadalupe-Lahug Bypass Road, the Mambaling South Boulevard, the Cebu City South Boulevard, and the South Road Connector Road in the South Road Properties, Bonoan said.