Third bridge by 2018?

CEBU, Philippines -  A third bridge that would link Cebu City with Mactan Island is projected to be operational by 2018.

This, if the joint venture agreement proposed by Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation  with the local government units concerned gets approved and construction would start in 2015.

MPTC, a subsidiary of the Metro Pacific Investments Corporation headed by business tycoon Manuel Pangilinan, presented its proposal to the Cebu City Council during an executive session yesterday on the P16.5 billion project.

It first submitted its unsolicited proposal that adopted the build-operate-and-transfer scheme in constructing the bridge to the city government last week.

MPTC legal counsel Aristotle Batuhan said the project would be pursued at no cost to the city except for the road right-of-way.

According to the proposal, management of the 7.9-kilometer bridge would be turned over to the city after 35 years.

The city government is expected to create a Joint Venture Selection Committee to evaluate the proposal. The city's bids and awards committee would also make its recommendations to the Council on the proposed project.

If the body agrees, it would then authorize Mayor Michael Rama to sign and enter into an agreement with MPTC for the project.

Dante Bautista, a traffic engineer and president of Parsons Brinckerhoff Philippines, Inc, an MPTC consultancy firm, said the "iconic" project would establish road networks and help reduce traffic toward the existing two bridges.

"Due to the expansion of MCIAA large traffic is created. Sixteen point nine percent of the combined traffic of the existing bridges is airport-bound, or at 10,850 vehicles a day," Bautista said.

He said that in 2020, with an estimated 20 million airline passengers a year and an estimated 31,000 vehicles a day going to the airport, traffic congestion would worsen.

Bautista further said that with around 117,780 vehicles a day in 2020 crossing the Mactan channel, 31-percent of vehicular traffic could be diverted to the Cebu-Cordova bridge.

He said the LGUs would be able to save P1.3 billion in terms of time and vehicle operating costs and P2.6 billion in economic benefits in terms of land values and business opportunities.

The proposed bridge, with a four-lane road with sidewalks in both sides, can also accommodate cruise ships, container ships, ferries and post panamax vessels, which classified as huge ocean vessels, passing under its span.

As proposed, the structure with one end built on Shell Island, or the former fuel depot of Shell Pilipinas in Cordova, would extend within the mouth of the Guadalupe River near the SRP tunnel.

Bautista said elevated ramps would be constructed across the river to provide access in going to the SRP and C. Padilla Street.

He said the bridge would look like southern France's Millau Viaduct, which is a cable-stayed bridge that spans the valley of River Tarn.

"The first of its kind in the Philippines and can withstand earthquake and other strong natural forces," he said of the bridge MPTC proposes to build.

Bautista assured that the bridge would not obstruct the flight path of planes.

He said that for MPTC to recover the whopping cost, they would collect a minimum of P55 toll fee from cars, jeepneys and other utility vehicles.

Meanwhile, the light trucks and buses would be charged double the amount and triple for multi-axle trucks and heavy trucks.

The said rates, though, would still be evaluated by the government's Toll Regulatory Board.

Batuhan said Cordova town and Cebu City would each receive half of five percent of the income generated from the bridge. The final share, though, would still be determined depending on the RROW cost.

In answer to City Councilor Gerardo Carillo's query during the session, Bautista said they proposed a bridge and not a tunnel since the latter would cost 10 times more and its operational and maintenance cost would be double than that of a bridge.

Bautista assured that the livelihood of local fisherfolks would not be affected during construction of the bridge.—/RHM (FREEMAN)