Rama backs toll fee for third bridge
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said he has no problem with a toll fee on a yet-to-be-built third Cebu-Mactan bridge.
“There will always be a fee. Dili gyud na ma-free (It can’t be free). Number one, because there is no cost to the government,” the mayor told reporters.
Proponent Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) told the Cebu City Council in last Wednesday’s session that the toll fee for motorists and public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers will be P55.
Dante Bautista of Parsons Brinckerhoff, MPTC’s consultant on the project, said the amount was arrived at after they conducted a “willingness to pay” survey.
The amount will double for light trucks and buses and will triple for multi-axle or heavy trucks.
“Kung ako lang mosakay, mobayad gyud ko kay dali ra man kaayo na. Naa ba guy dali nga barato?” (If I’m driving through the bridge, of course I’ll pay because that access is easier. Is there an easy access that’s cheap?),” Rama said.
He said even in Manila and the US, people pay a toll fee when passing through toll bridges and roads.
The P16.5 billion third bridge project of the MPTC will be built through a joint-venture agreement between the local governments of Cordova and Cebu City and the MPTC.
It will be built at no cost to the local government units (LGUs) who will each get a 2.5 percent share from the revenues of the toll bridge.
Bautista said the MPTC seeks to recover the cost of the bridge mainly through the toll fee.
But he said there are other minor ways of recovering costs like advertisements among others.
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