The Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH-7) has started the construction of their 74-kilometer Metro Cebu Expressway to solve traffic congestion in Metro Cebu.
DPWH-7 Regional Director Ador Canlas said they had already an ongoing civil works at the junction area of Naga-Uling Road in Barangay Pangdan in Naga City since July.
“(Our objective is to) decongest and reduce travel time from south to the north, vice versa. We are looking to reduce the travel to at least one hour,” Canlas told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview.
The road project, which covers Naga City in the south to Danao City in the north of Cebu, is expected to cut travel time to at least one hour from the usual three to four hours travel.
Canlas said he recommended that the project be done in a public-private partnership (PPP) because it would require a big amount of funding — the project is projected to cost between P20 billion to P30 billion.
He said that the DPWH-7 had been using the P300 million fund from its national budget in 2018 for road acquisition and the initial 2.5 km four-lane road construction.
The Metro Cebu Expressway will traverse on the upland barangays of at least five cities and four municipalities, including the cities of Naga, Talisay, Cebu, Mandaue, Danao and the towns of Minglanilla, Consolacion, Liloan and Compostela.
The project is divided into three segments and is targeted to be completed in 2022.
“We are hoping that this will be completed before the end of the Duterte administration,” said Canlas.
Canlas, however, emphasized that there would be no protected watershed areas in the mountain barangays that would be affected by the road development project.
“There will be private properties that will be affected by the project, but its alignment will not traverse the watershed,” said Canlas.
Jonathan “Joy” Tumulak, Capitol’s focal person on Traffic Management, said they had not yet received complaints of traffic pertaining to the ongoing construction.
“So far, kanang mga area naa sa may upland (barangays). Wala pa tay nadawat na reklamo, pero welcome gyod nato sa province of Cebu ang maong development,” Tumulak said.
(So far, we have not yet received complaints of traffic especially that the construction area is located in an upland barangay. But the Cebu provincial government welcomed this development).
Moreover, Tumulak encouraged the public officials of different local government units (LGUs) to open a new road in their town to ease traffic in the national highway.
“Mao nay usa sa mga solution sa traffic problem nga gitawag nato og road network. Dako kaayo siyag katabang (That is one of the solutions to the traffic problem and we call that the road network. That would be a big help in easing traffic in their areas),” said Tumulak.
He said that the province would also be willing to provide technical assistance to LGUs in identifying new access roads in their areas.
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