Reclamation, aqueduct pushed for proposed third Mactan-Cebu bridge

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

RECLAMATION or building a causeway or aqueduct are among the proposals being eyed by a subsidiary of a consortium headed by tycoon Manuel Pangilinan in building a potential third access bridge connecting mainland Cebu and Mactan Island.

Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III said representatives from the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) presented the initial results of their ongoing feasibility study before him and other provincial officials last Wednesday.

“They just basically presented us proposals on where the bridge can pass in a shorter route going to Cordova as well as the setup of the infrastructure,” he told reporters yesterday.

The feasibility study started late last year after the Cebu provincial government, the Cordova municipal government and MPTC entered into an agreement for the purpose last Oct. 2013.

MPTC representatives also met with officials from Cebu City Hall.

“They were entertaining the possibility of reclamation for it to be cheaper. The other is to put up a causeway or aqueduct instead,” Davide said.

Davide added that he will meet with representatives from the company again two weeks from now for another set of presentations to discuss the final project costs.

The expenses for conducting the six-month study is shouldered by the company and will cover the bridge’s “design, construction, implementation, operation and maintenance.”

Based on a design presented last year by architect Joseph Michael Espina, a core group member of the Movement for a Livable Cebu, the proposed cable-stayed bridge and causeway will be built from the Shell Island in Cordova and will extend to the mouth of Guadalupe river in C. Padilla Extension.

This will connect V. Rama Avenue and South Road Properties (SRP) and is unlike the usual route between the two existing bridges which cross the Mactan Channel and connect to Mandaue City.