Lapu Council tosses expressway proposal back to Ahong pending clarifications
The Lapu-Lapu City Council during its regular session on Thursday.
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines — The proposed Lapu-Lapu Expressway of Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan failed to gain momentum after the City Council during its regular session on Thursday afternoon, referred the proposal back to the office of the mayor.
Councilor Michael Dignos, the chairman of the committee on infrastructure, tossed the proposed skyway project back to Chan due to some concerns that the councilors want to be clarified.
The expressway, based on the proposal, will pass through Barangay Babag, Cebu Light Industrial Park in Barangay Basak, Aviation Road, Carmelite Foundation School, Barangay Ibo, and the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) access road.
But Dignos said that the affected barangays were not consulted by the city.
“Wala siyay consultation sa mga barangays nga ma-affected by this project. Dako kaayo ug impact kay moagi siya sa CLIP, moagi siya sa Basak, moagi siya sa aviation road, but wala ta’y consultation whatsoever,” Dignos said.
Dignos also said that it was not clear in the proposal what will happen to the residents that are currently using and residing at the aviation road since the road will be closed once it will be a part of the LLEX.
Motorists that will be allowed to use the expressway are only those who can pay its toll fee.
Another observation that was raised by Dignos is that the city will only get a 1% share of the project’s gross revenue for the toll operation annually, and yet, the city will provide road rights of ways without any expense from the corporation or consortium.
“The sharing scheme nga gi-propose sa proponent nga 1% lang para sa Lapu-Lapu City, walay basihan diin nila gikuha ang 1%. In fact, kung imong basahon ang joint venture, naga-ingon didto nga tanang road right of way nga kuhaon sa siyudad, including the aviation road, mahimo siyang contribution sa siyudad ngadto sa joint venture. So meaning, part na siya puhon sa joint venture,” he added.
Dignos added that the proposal should have indicated the value of the road right of way that would be provided by the city to the project so that they can justify the 1% share that the city would get from its annual gross revenue.
Dignos also described a certain provision in the joint venture as a dangerous financial exposure in the city, after the city would be obliged to pay P1 billion to the corporation or joint venture if it will fail to perform its obligation to the project.
Aside from this, the toll facility will also be exempted from paying the city business and real property taxes.
The LLEX will be done under a private-public partnership (PPP) arrangement, which will be ventured by Premium Megastructure, Inc (PMI), Ulticon Builders, Inc., and MTD Philippines, Inc.
The corporation or joint consortium will manage the LLEX within 50 years before it will be returned to the city government.
After Dignos moved to refer back the proposal to the mayor’s office, no one in the city council opposed the move.
Earlier, Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan appealed to members of the city council to approve the LLEX, since this will be beneficial to the city, especially in boosting its economy.
“Walay gasto ang atong syudad, makahatag kini og income, makasulbad sa problema sa trapiko, ug makaboost sa atong ekonomiya ug sa mga syudad sa Metro Cebu ang maong expressway,” Chan said. /rcg
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