Bridge construction works to start today

Construction works on the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) project, the third bridge connecting Mactan Island to mainland Cebu, are set to start today.

The construction plan will include bored piling works for the foundation of the project.

A short program to be held in front of Compania Maritima Building at the South Road Properties in Cebu City will kick off the construction works.

Manuel Pangilinan, chairman of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), is expected to deliver a keynote speech, while Julio Ruiz Cabrero, project director of Cebu Link Joint Venture, will give a project brief during today's program at 10 in the morning.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Cordova, Cebu Mayor Mary Therese SitoyCho are also expected to grace the event.

After the program, guests will board a yacht and proceed to the piling area at the CebuMactan Channel near Shell Island (CCLEX Tower 2) for the blessing ceremony to be led by Cebu Auxiliary Bishop Dennis Villarojo.

“The event marks the start of civil works at the site for the construction of CCLEX, an 8.5 kilometers toll bridge and road project,” said Allan Alfon, president and general manager of Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corporation (CCLEC).

CCLEC, a subsidiary of MPTC, will undertake the P22.6 billion CCLEX project in partnership with the Cebu City and the Cordova municipal governments under a public-private partnership arrangement.

The project is expected to be finished by 2021.

The CCLEX is envisioned to help decongest the two existing bridges between Cebu and Mactan Island.

“It will help complement the solutions being undertaken by the government to ease traffic congestion in mainland Cebu and Mactan. The project will likewise bring progress not only to Cebu province but the entire Visayas region,” Alfon said.

The civil works contractor for the CCLEX project is the CLJV, a consortium of Spainbased Acciona Construction S.A. and Philippine-based First Balfour Inc. and D. M. Consunji Inc.

The CCLEX project supports the “Build, Build, Build” program, the centerpiece of the economic development face of the Duterte administration, said Alfon.