Duterte to attend 3rd bridge groundbreaking

The artist’s perspective of Cebu-Cordova bridge. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to grace the groundbreaking ceremony for the Cebu-Cordova toll bridge on March 2.

This was revealed by former Cordova mayor Adelino Sitoy, who is the current head of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO).

Sitoy said he was only informed about Duterte’s attendance last Tuesday.

“I’m planning to bring him to the SRP (South Road Properties) so he can get a view of Shell Island as well as the flag that will be used in the groundbreaking,” he told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview yesterday.

Aside from Duterte, Sitoy said some Cabinet members also expressed interest in attending the ceremony.

So far, Sitoy said the President still has no itinerary for his Cebu visit.

Jonji Gonzales, chief of staff to Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino, said they were also notified about the visit.

Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez, executive assistant of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, also affirmed the President’s visit but at an earlier date, or on Feb. 15.

“President Duterte will be here to inaugurate the Cebu and Cordova sides (of the toll bridge),” he said in a press conference in the morning.

The anticipated visit will be Duterte’s third to Cebu since he assumed office in July 2016.

Duterte’s first visit to Cebu was in August last year to meet with and speak before soldiers at the Armed Forces of the Philippines Central Command headquarters in Camp Lapu-Lapu, Lahug, Cebu City.

His second visit was last month for a stopover dinner at the Mactan-Benito Ebuen Airbase with Gov. Hilario Davide III. Duterte had dropped by Cebu after visiting the families affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda in Tacloban City.

Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corporation, the toll road unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, signed in April 2016 an agreement for the P27.9-billion Cebu-Cordova Bridge project through a joint venture with the local governments of Cebu City and Cordova.

The project involves the construction, operation, and maintenance of an 8.25-kilometer bridge that will link Cebu City to Mactan Island via Cordova.

Fernandez said he was happy to announce that the groundbreaking for the project will finally take place as the bridge was seen to decongest traffic in Mandaue City, leading up to Mactan Island.

“Eighty percent of those going through Mandaue are not from Mandaue. They either go to the airport on Mactan Island or to Consolacion,” he said.

Set to be completed in 2020, the project is intended to decongest traffic on Mactan-MandaueBridge and the Marcelo Fernan Bridge.

The toll bridge will be located around 7.5 kilometers south of the Mactan-Mandaue Bridge and will soon rise from the Cebu South Coastal Road, crossing the Mactan Channel to Mactan Island.

The third bridge will have two lanes in each direction and will include the main bridge structure, viaduct, causeway, roadway and toll facilities.