Cebu-Cordova bridge: Duterte to lead groundbreaking

CEBU, Philippines - President Rodrigo Duterte will fly to Cebu to witness the groundbreaking ceremony for the multi-billion Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway, one of the biggest infrastructure projects outside Manila implemented since he became President.

The expressway will be the third bridge that will link Mactan Island and mainland Cebu.

Bimbo Fernandez, executive assistant to Mayor Tomas Osmeña, said initially that the President will be here on February 15 but former Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy said later that Duterte will instead fly in on March 2.

"Di na February 15 but March 2 na moanhi ang Presidente," Sitoy said.

Fernandez heads the Technical Working Committee for the bridge on the part of Cebu City while Sitoy heads the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office.

The bridge is projected to cost between P27 billion to P30 billion, Fernandez said.

Spanning eight kilometers, the CCLEX will connect Cebu City to the Municipality of Cordova and will serve as an alternate route in going to and from the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

Sitoy believes the bridge will help ease traffic in Metro Cebu.

"Mas paspas na ang pag anhi sa Cordova og ingon man padung sa Mactan airport ug sa mga beach resorts sa Lapu-Lapu City," he said.

Cordova Mayor Mary Therese Sitoy-Cho said earlier that the new bridge will stir up Cordova's local economy and lead to its becoming one of the highly-urbanized cities of Metro Cebu and eventually become a competitive eco-tourism gateway in the Visayas.

The construction itself, she said, can provide jobs to residents of Cordova and the project itself means additional source of revenue to the town due to the taxes and permits to be incurred.

On a larger scale, Sitoy-Cho believes the economic spin-offs the bridge will bring about - job generation, trade and commerce, real estate development, and tourism related activities - will bring in greater benefits not only to Cordova and Cebu City but to Cebu province as a whole.

Being a toll bridge to be built under a private-public partnership (PPP) scheme, the project will enable Cebu City and Cordova to provide their constituents badly needed infrastructure with private sector funding.

Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corporation (MPTDC), through its subsidiary, the Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corporation (CCLEC) will design, build, and operate the bridge.

MPTDC currently operates some of the countries' major expressways such as the North Luzon Expressway, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and Manila Cavite Toll Expressway.  (FREEMAN)