Cebu North coastal road may cost P2.3B

THE proposed construction of the Cebu North Coastal Road will cost the national government around P2.3 billion. The road project is a 9.45 kilometer highway running through the coastal areas of Mandaue City, Consolacion and Lilo-an.

The proposed road section will link the new Mandaue City central business district and government center and the new Northern Metro Cebu urban development area. The latter encompasses the Mactan International Airport, the Mactan Export Processing Zone and the Mandaue reclamation.

Jaime Pacanan, assistant secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), said that of the total cost of the project, only P100 million or 1.44 percent of the amount has been released.

Problem

Of this amount, P45 million goes to Civil Works (CW) while P55 million is for the acquisition of road right of way.

Pacanan said the requisition of road right of way is ongoing, but this has posed as a problem to the project. CW is scheduled to begin on September this year.

With the end of her term on 2010, the President issued a mandate to her Pro-Performance System Steering (PPSS) Committee, urging them to “be merciless in ripping through undue obstacles in the way of overdue priority infrastructure projects.”

Part of the road project is a bridge spanning 684.13 meters. Construction work is scheduled to begin in September 2008 and end on April 2010. The bridge will connect Bry. Paknaan, Mandaue City, along the Mandaue reclamation.

Update

In the 4th National Infrastructure Forum press conference held at Waterfront, Lahug, yesterday, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde gave an update on the status of the Arroyo administration’s 52 Priority Infrastructure Projects in Central Philippines. The proposed road project is one of these.

Of the 52, ten of the President’s infrastructure projects in Central Philippines have already been completed. This includes the ports of Jagna, Maasin, Tubigon, Ubay, Pantao, Siquijor and Limasawa also are the new Iloilo and new Bacolod-Silay airports.

Remonde, along with the PPSS committee, will visit the site of the Proposed Cebu North Coastal Road at 9:00 a.m. today. The road will provide a shorter northern route to the Mactan International Airport, passing through the second Mandaue-Mactan bridge.

Article source: Sun.Star Cebu