Study Mandaue-Danao highway, DPWH told

Rep. Benhur Salimbangon (Cebu Province, 4th district) yesterday said he was told by President Rodrigo Duterte that the latter is agreeable to a toll highway from Mandaue City to Danao City to decongest traffic.

Salimbangon said he will file a House resolution to remind the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to conduct a feasibility study (FS) on the matter.

He said it’s good to do it now that Congress is conducting budget hearings for the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2019.

Salimbangon said that he and former congresswoman Neris- sa Soon-Ruiz were successful in opening Cansaga Road, a Cebu provincial road that was later converted into a national road.

After Cansaga road, Salimbangon said he and Soon-Ruiz were able to convince then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to construct the P2.4-billion Cansaga Bridge, which shortened travel time from Lapu-Lapu City to Northern Cebu.

Salimbangon believes that a toll highway, which is separate from Cansaga road, will decongest traffic in Mandaue City and the towns of Consolacion and Liloan, and further open up the north.

In the 888 News Forum at Marco Polo, Mandaue City Vice Mayor Carlo Pontico Fortuna said that Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has endorsed the construction of a coastal road with the fourth Mactan-Mandaue Bridge as a project package.

The vice mayor said this is now waiting for approval by the National Economic and Development Authority-Investment Coordinating Committee for funding, possibly with overseas development assistance.

“I think that a toll highway and a road-and-bridge project package will complement each other,” Fortuna said. /