Zaballero: Trans-axial highway to solve traffic woes

Former Provincial Board (PB) Member and now Capitol consultant Gigi Sanchez-Zaballero shows the map for the Trans-axial Development Project of her late dad and former Cebu Vice Governor Greg Sanchez during a press conference yesterday afternoon. Sanchez-Zaballero is urging Capitol to revisit her dad’s pet project to help address the worsening traffic in the metropolis. CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA

SEVEN years after the death of her father, former Provincial Board (PB) Member Grecilda “Gigi” Sanchez-Zaballero is urging the Capitol to revisit her dad’s Cebu Trans-axial Development Project (CTDP), as a means to solve the traffic congestion in Metro Cebu.

Sanchez-Zaballero, the daughter of the late Vice Governor Greg Sanchez, said her father’s pet project is long overdue and should be implemented in light of the worsening traffic in the metropolis.
The CTDP, also known as the Cebu Backbone Highway, is a 300-kilometer network which will traverse the central axis of mainland Cebu.

The four-lane, trans-axial highway will open access roads in the mountain barangays from the northern tip of Cebu, Daanbantayan, towards Santander in the south, and is eyed to reduce travel time to at least 40 percent.

The development road was first envisioned by former Governor Emilio “Lito” Osmeña during his term in 1988 to 1992, and was later championed by the late Vice Governor Sanchez in 2007.

“This is a project that gives us hope in the midst of all this traffic problem,” Zaballero, who is now a Capitol consultant, said.

The cost was estimated at P46.31 billion in 2007 and increased to P93.72 billion in 2014.

Apart from addressing the traffic problem in Metro Cebu, Zaballero said the CTDP will also provide economic growth to far-flung barangays especially where the road traverses.

“If we can have this project finally completed, there is hope to spread development to the other side of town,” she said.

The project, Zaballero said, will also attract key investors who will be willing to put up economic zones, wind and solar power plants, among others in the mountain areas.

“It will spur growth on the rural areas and spread development to these areas,” she said.

Zaballero added that the project’s feasibility study has already been completed and is only waiting to be lobbied at the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

Meanwhile, Zaballero remained mum about talks that she is targeting the third district congressional seat in 2019.

Talks of a political comeback emerged after she was seen visiting different schools to conduct information drives, especially on the importance of having the CTDP as a solution to the traffic gridlocks in the metro.