Toll fee up for 3rd bridge: Private investors eye P55 minimum fee for each vehicle

By: Jose Santino S. Bunachita August 28,2014 - 09:35 AM

Proposed design specifications on the planned third Mactan Cebu bridge drawn up by a team of architects.

Pay as you pass.

Motorists passing through the yet-to-be-built third bridge that would link Mactan island to mainland Cebu would have to pay at least P55, the proposed toll of private project proponents.

“We conducted a willingness to pay survey and we came up with an acceptable price of P55,” said Dante Bautista of Parsons Brinckerhoff, which does consulting work on the project.

Bautista and other representatives of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) yesterday presented details of their unsolicited proposal for the third bridge at yesterday’s executive session of the Cebu City Council.

The P55 toll fee would apply to cars, passenger jeeps and sports utility vehicles (SUVs).

Light trucks and buses will be made to pay twice the amount while multi-axle or heavy trucks will probably pay P165.

Any toll fees levied in the country’s roads and highways are subject to review and approval by the Toll Regulatory Board.

The need for a third access between Cebu mainland and Mactan has intensified over the years with the fast-growing economy in Cebu including traffic volume and population.

Officials agree that a third bridge is needed but the huge cost
Project proponents said the bridge user cost will be justified as it will spur the province’s economy.

“With this third bridge, the province can save P1.3 billion on time and vehicle operations and will get P2.6 billion economic benefits to land values and business opportunities,” Bautista said.

The proposed P16.5 billion third bridge will be 705 meters long will have a vertical clearance of 55 meters from the highest water level or around twice the height of the two existing Cebu-Mactan bridges.

Bautista said this is to ensure that the bridge accommodates post-panamax or big vessels passing under the bridge to get to and from the Cebu International Port (CIP).

The project will be a joint venture between the town of Cordova, Cebu City and MPTC through a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.

It will start at the portion of Shell Island in barangay Pilipog, Cordova and will end at the mouth of the Guadalupe Rive near the Cebu South Coastal Road Tunnel.

It will have four lanes and will have a “generous sidewalk and for cycling.”

There also won’t be a reclamation to be done for the project. The proponents have opted to just use causeways to connect the bridge to the land. There will also be three viaducts in the causeway “to ensure flow of current” so that fishermen, especially in Cordova town won’t be affected.

Bautista said having a bridge as third access is much cheaper than a tunnel. He said construction of a tunnel is ten times costlier than a bridge, while its maintenance is twice as costly.

According to MPTC legal consultant Aristotle Batuhan, they have just formally sent their “unsolicited proposal” to the LGUs of Cordova town and Cebu City last week.

“We’ve already received a communication from Cordova that they’ve formed their PPP committee to review the proposal.

Cordova’s joint venture ordinance doesn’t specify a number of days to finish the review but we’re confident it will be done quick especially since the mayor said he sees a possible groundbreaking by January 2015,” Batuhan said.

But for Cebu City, a Joint venture selection committee is given 300 calendar days to finish the process leading to the approval or disapproval of the joint venture project.

Proponents have pegged the share of revenues at 95-5 percent of total revenues. Five percent will be divided by Cordova and Cebu City while the 95 percent will go to MPTC.

Batuhan said they’re expecting an award from the city government by February or March next year, after which “construction will commence immediately.”

After the formation of the committee to review the proposal, the next step will be the negotiation.

The last step is “competitive challenge” where the LGUs will look for other similar proposals that can be matched by MPTC. After which, the LGUs should already have to award the project.

The LGUs are expected to facilitate road right of way acquisitions for the project. So far, Batuhan said there aren’t private lots affected by the project, only government lots.