Pangilinan-led firm pursuing Metro Cebu Expressway project

Bullish on Cebu, the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) has set its sights on a second project there: the 73.7-kilometer expressway linking the cities of Naga and Danao.

Allan Alfon, president and general manager of MPTC subsidiary Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway Corp., told reporters last week they were keen on pursuing this time the contract for the Metro Cebu Expressway. This, after inaugurating just last April Cebu’s third bridge, the group’s first toll road project in the province.

“We are looking at the Metro Cebu Expressway. It’s a circumferential road,” he said, noting the company had already submitted a letter of intent.

The toll road is a solicited public-private partnership (PPP) project that involves the construction of an arterial road comprising three segments.

The first segment is designed to link Minglanilla, Talisay, Cebu City, Mandaue and Consolacion. The second segment will then connect the expressway to Danao City, while the last segment will connect Naga City and Minglanilla.

“[It] will be subject to detailed engineering. Part of the alignment is tunneling. There are certain portions in these islands that are watershed areas where you cannot construct over them and you have to tunnel it,” Alfon said.

According to the PPP website, the expressway is projected to cost P94.07 billion.

The toll road aims to cut travel time from Naga to Danao in less than an hour from 3 hours.

Metro Cebu Expressway is among the government’s priority PPP projects.

In April, the MPTC unit inaugurated the P33-billion Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEx), which connects mainland Cebu from Cebu City to Cordova town in Mactan Island.

Cebu’s third bridge currently has a daily vehicular volume of 12,500, translating to P1 million to P1.4 million in gross revenues.

This figure is projected to grow to 20,000 vehicles per day by the end of the year, increasing daily revenues to P2 million.

Alfon said they were also looking at potentially extending CCLEx to Guadalupe City through a P1-billion ramp project. INQ