Big infrastructure plans for Cebu next year
CEBU CITY – Expect a flurry of construction activity in Cebu next year.
Several multi-billion infrastructure projects are to be built, including an integrated seamless transport system that will address Metro Cebu’s worsening traffic.
Data from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) here showed that Cebu has over half a million registered motor vehicles, as of December 2017.
LTO-Central Visayas Director Alita Pulga said there are currently 574,819 registered vehicles that ply the province’s streets and that if the number of new vehicles will increase next year, Cebu may have 800,000 registered cars and motorcycles by the end of 2018.
Cebuanos have been complaining on social media about Metro Cebu’s traffic.
Manila Bulletin pieced together the infrastructure puzzle to present what could be an answer to traffic woes in 2018.
Metro Cebu Expressway Among the big ticket projects aimed at resolving Metro Cebu’s traffic problem which are taking off next year include the R 50-billion Metro Cebu Expressway, a 74-kilometer highland road which may be mixed with a subway that will snake through Naga City in the south to Danao City in the north.
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) - Central Visayas Information Officer Marie Nillama said the regional office has allotted R300 million for the road right-of-way (RROW) acquisition and initial civil works for 2018 alone.
“The expressway is seen to cost billions but our budget allocation for this would be by year… because this is a continuing project, this is expected to be completed in 2022 or before President Duterte steps down from office,” Nillama told the Manila Bulletin.
By January, Nillama said personnel from the DPWH-7 is set to conduct a parcellary survey to calculate the land area and the number of trees that would be affected by the opening of roads.
The survey will then be submitted to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for special tree cutting permits application.
“Once we are given the green light by the DENR, we would immediately start construction work on an opening road in Naga City,” Nillama said.
DPWH Secretary Mark Villar announced the implementation of the project in May this year.
Villar said the expressway will be implemented in three segments - from Talisay City to Cebu City and then to Mandaue City; from Consolacion to Liloan to Compostela to Danao City; and from Naga City to Minglanilla.
Villar also noted that once completed, the highway, which will have four to six lanes, will cut travel time from Naga City to Danao City from the usual three hours to an hour and 25 minutes.
Engr. Nonato Paylado, DPWH-7 regional planning division head, said proposals have been raised on whether to build a tunnel along a section in one of the mountain villages on Cebu City “but this is not final yet.”
The project is part of the administration’s infrastructure program #BuildBuildBuild, which aims to increase the productive capacity of the economy and create jobs through the acceleration of massive infrastructure.
Cebu’s third bridge Also tabled for rollout is the longawaited third bridge that will link mainland Cebu to Cordova town on Mactan island.
Last November 23, Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corporation issued the Notice of Award to Cebu Link Joint Venture, a construction and engineering consortium composed of Spain-based Acciona Construccion S. A.; Philippine-based First Balfour Inc.; and D. M. Consunji Inc, at an agreed amount of R22.6 billion.
Its construction, which is scheduled to start by the second quarter of 2018, is expected to generate around 1,000 jobs and is set to be finished by 2021 or within the term of Duterte.
The structure will have two lanes in each direction. It will have the main navigation span bridge, viaduct approach bridges, a causeway, roadway and toll facilities.
The bridge will allow for shipping traffic and the link is expected to serve at least 40,000 vehicles daily.
It will significantly reduce the distance between Cordova and Cebu City to 8.5 km from 20.7 km.
A toll bridge facility will be built under a private-public partnership (PPP) scheme with Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corporation.
BRT, LRT, Monorail
The P16.9-billion Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) deal, meanwhile, will be implemented by the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
City Administrator Nigel Paul Villarete, who was tasked by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to oversee the project’s implementation, said the city government has started acquiring the RROW from owners of properties along the project’s route.
The Cebu BRT Project is envisioned to be a 23-km BRT corridor that would traverse through Cebu City’s central business district - from Barangay Bulacao in the south west and Talamban village in the north east.
Francisco Ouano, operations head of the Cebu City Transportation Office, said the BRT system – which was pushed by the Cebu City government – will play a key role in addressing the traffic congestion in the city and will pave the way for a smooth transportation system here.
On August 11 this year, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) approved the said project.
The BRT had a project cost of R10.6 billion when it was approved by the NEDA Board in 2014, under the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III.
The cost has increased to R16.9 billion because of a new RROW acquisition law.
The BRT project is targeted to be operational in 2021.
Studies are also underway for the Light Rail Transit system and monorail system in some areas of Metro Cebu.
Underpass, Skyway, Flyover
Meanwhile, Nillama disclosed that a depressed structure (an underpass) will be built along UN Avenue and the junction of Plaridel St. in Mandaue City, second to that of the underpass project on Natalio Bacalso Ave. in Cebu City.
Nillama said its construction will commence in 2018 and its cost was estimated at R780 milllion. It is projected to finish a year after.
“Its contract is on the process. The bidding had been done and the contractor is now being evaluated. There are still no specifics on the project like when the Notice of Award will be given,” Nillama said.
Mandaue City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing earlier said the UN Avenue intersection is the busiest in the metro since it is among the access roads going to Mactan-Cebu International Airport and the mainland of Lapu-Lapu City.
The UN intersection is a traffic chokepoint and considered the most important intersection since it leads towards the northern part of Cebu, added Nillama.
Constrution work on the first 700meter underpass on N. Bacalso Ave., however, is ongoing.
The project, which is worth R638 million, will have a two-way, two-lane depressed structure at the intersection of N. Bacalso Avenue and F. Llamas Street. It is expected to be completed in 18 months.
Last September, Osmeña had announced that three major infrastructure projects that are also expected to address traffic congestion will be implemented by the national government in Cebu City next year.
One is a skyway that will connect Fuente Osmeña to S. Osmeña Blvd.
Another is the stalled R201-million flyover project on Gorordo Ave. and Doña Modesta Sr. It will be pushed again, Osmeña said.
Third on the list is an underpass along the Mambaling Access Road of the Cebu South Coastal Road.