Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña wants to open the road access inside Camp Lapu-Lapu to ease traffic. (CDN FILE PHOTO)
As President Rodrigo Duterte arrives today to grace the groundbreaking of the proposed toll bridge that would connect mainland Cebu to Cordova town on Mactan Island, local government officials are also preparing to bring to him their own concerns.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he will strongly push for the opening of the Camp Lapu-Lapu road access to ease traffic congestion.
“Open up a new road there, not just allow the camp to lift up initially but actually widen and connect Ecotech to Guadalupe. There is already a bridge there, just put another road there,” he said.
Funds for the project would have to come from the national government, he added.
“We don’t have that kind of money. My priority here are the scholars,” Osmeña said.
According to the mayor, opening the road inside Camp Lapu-Lapu will not pose any risk to the facility.
“The camp is of little military value. There are no more soldiers there. There’s nothing except the barracks,” he said.
Security
Security is expected to be tight in Metro Cebu today.
“The security preparations are there. We will provide the President with the highest level of security,” said Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, head of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7).
Aside from the groundbreaking ceremony of the third Mactan-Cebu bridge, Duterte will also lead the induction of officials of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) led by its re-elected president Melanie Ng at the Waterfront Airport Hotel and Casino in Lapu-Lapu City later in the afternoon.
According to Paolo Anota of Philippine Information Agency–Media Accreditation and Relations Office (PIA–MARO) the President will take a helicopter for an aerial inspection to see which parts of Cordova and Cebu City the bridge would pass through.
Today’s visit is the President’s third since he assumed office in July 2016.
The first was in August 2016 where he met with the soldiers at the Armed Forces of the Philippines Central Command headquarters in Camp Lapu-Lapu, Lahug, Cebu City.
He returned in January 2017 for a stopover dinner at the Mactan-Benito Ebuen Airbase, where he met with Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III after visiting the families affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda in Tacloban City, Leyte.
Third Bridge
Metro Pacific entered into a joint venture agreement with the local governments of Cebu City and Cordova in April 2016 for the implementation of the P27.9-billion toll bridge project.
The agreement involves the construction, operation and maintenance of an 8.25-kilometer bridge that will link Cebu City to Mactan Island through Cordova town.
Cebu’s third bridge project is expected to decongest traffic especially in Mandaue City where the two other bridges are located.
Osmeña said the third bridge will greatly enhance the viability and feasibility of the Cordova Reclamation Project.
“There is also a need to develop another express way from the coastal resort areas of Mactan, which is Punta Engaño, and go out to Cordova and go out into the sea and connect to Cebu City,” he said.
Set for completion in 2020, the third bridge project is located around 7.5 kilometers south of the Mactan-Mandaue Bridges and will soon rise from the Cebu South Coastal Road, crossing the Mactan Channel to Mactan Island.
The third bridge is designed to have four lanes — two in each direction — and will include the main bridge structure, viaduct, causeway, roadway and toll facilities.
“That is the one strong potential of the third bridge. In other words, it has promises for continued growth,” Osmeña said.