Cebu City Hall Administrator Lucelle Mercado says the joint venture selection committee that she chairs wants to make sure that the city won’t have to allocate counterpart funds for the Mactan-Cebu third bridge.
While Cordova town is prepared to hold the groundbreaking of the third Mactan-Cebu bridge next month, Cebu City Hall still has to secure some documents from the project proponent.
“There are still some documents we’re asking from the project proponents. We can’t catch up with Cordova for now. But there’s no problem with that since there are different phases of the project,” City Administrator Lucelle Mercado said.
Mercado heads the Joint-Venture Selection Committee (JVSC) which was formed in October this year.
The Cordova municipal government received the proposal early and completed their preparations for the project.
The Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) submitted an unsolicited proposal to both the Cordova and Cebu City governments for the third bridge project.
Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy said the groundbreaking for the bridge project will be held on January 1 next year.
Total cost
Mercado said there is nothing to worry even if Cebu City is lagging behind a bit.
“There is no problem because we are definitely interested. We just want to make sure that the city government will not spend anything (for the project),” she said.
Among the documents they asked from MPTC are the financial requirements and specifications for the project which includes its total cost and who shoulders it, as well as any counterpart fund that may be put up by the Cebu City government.
Proponents of the project already presented to the Cebu City Council last August the highlights of their proposal which includes an expected minimum toll fee of P55 for vehicles passing through the bridge.
They also assured the project will be done at no cost to the city government and they’re only asking for support in making sure things are in place for the construction and acquisition of properties that may be affected.
Contract
The bridge will start at the portion of Shell Island in barangay Pilipog, Cordova and will end at the mouth of the Guadalupe River near the Cebu South Coastal Road Tunnel.
Mercado said the JVSC will meet tomorrow to discuss the initial report of the Technical Working Group (TWG) which reviewed the project proposal.
After the discussion of the report as well as the submission of the required documents, the JVSC is expected to submit a report to Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama to declare MPTC as the original proponent for the PPP project.
The proponent will then draft a contract with the Cebu City government for the project. It will have to be approved by the Cebu City Council before the mayor signs it.