WITH construction of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) starting, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is planning a fourth bridge to connect mainland Cebu to Mactan Island.
DPWH Secretary Mark Villar said that with the help of the Asian Development Bank, they are studying options on how to ease traffic in Metro Cebu.
“Malaki po ang investment namin sa traffic decongestion dito sa Cebu. Mayroon po kaming ginagawang plano sa fourth bridge (We’re investing heavily to decongest traffic in Cebu. That includes planning a fourth bridge),” said Villar during the ceremony that kicked off the civil works for the CCLEX yesterday in an empty lot of the Cebu Port Authority near the Compaña Maritima Bldg. in Cebu City.
He said they expect the feasibility study and the engineering design for the fourth bridge, which is being conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), to be finished this year. Implementation will start next year.
Villar, however, did not disclose details on where the bridge, which is expected to finish by 2022, will be built, but said that it will be in the north.
“We’re finalizing ‘yung (the) alignment. So, hindi ko muna babanggitin kasi pina-finalize lang po ‘yung (I won’t say where because we’re still finalizing the) alignment,” he said.
He said that Jica’s study saw that the current bridges—the Mactan-Mandaue Bridge and the Marcelo Fernan Bridge—are not sufficient to handle traffic flow.
There is no cost estimate yet for the fourth bridge, but Villar said the funding will come from a foreign source.
He said construction of the third and fourth bridge may be done simultaneously since Cebu urgently needs to solve its traffic congestion problem.
Villar said his department is fully aware of Cebu’s problem and it is doing multiple studies on projects and solutions.
Meanwhile, work on the CCLEX started yesterday when the first pile casing was dropped in the Mactan Channel.
According to Rodrigo Franco, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), it will take them three to four months to drop the 30 pile casings needed for the first tower.
Only 130 persons are working on the project, but their number will grow to 2,000 when the construction goes full blast, he said.
Robert Uthwatt, project manager of CCLEX, said that in November, they will the start construction of a “great, big foundation at the bottom of the ocean.”
Then they will erect a 145-meter pylon, which is expected to take six months. Next year, they also install the stay cables, he said.
The civil works contractor for the CCLEX project is the Cebu Link Joint Venture, a consortium of Spanish-based Acciona Construccion S.A , Philippine-based First Balfour Inc. and D.M. Consunji Inc.
Jose Ma. Lim, president and CEO of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), assured that construction of the bridge will be finished in 2021, in time for the 500-year anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the archipelago.
The MPTC is undertaking the CCLEX project in partnership with Cebu City and and the Cordova Municipal Government under a public private partnership arrangement.
After a short program at the CPA, participants sailed on board yachts to the piling area at the Mactan Channel near Shell Island, where Cebu Auxiliary Bishop Dennis Villarojo officiated the blessing ceremony for the project.