Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corp., a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., said Thursday it will spend P30 billion over the next three years to build an expressway linking Cebu City to the town of Cordova in the island of Mactan.
MPTC president and chief executive Rodrigo Franco said the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway Project was expected to start construction in the second quarter of 2018 and to be completed by 2021.
He said the company would borrow P20 billion from six local banks to partly finance the project, while the remaining P10 billion would be funded through equity.
Franco said the project would help decongest the two existing Mactan-Mandaue and Marcelo Fernan bridges, where traffic was building up in both approaches particularly during peak hours.
CCLEC earlier awarded the P22.6-billion design-and-build contract to Cebu Link Joint Venture, which is composed of Spain-based Acciona Construccion SA, First Balfour Inc. of the Lopez group and D.M. Consunji Inc. for the CCLEX project.
Allan Alfon, president of CCLEC, said with their partner contractors, workmanship in implementing the project would be of first-class quality and in accordance with the best modern practice for design and construction.
CCLEX is an 8.5-kilometer toll road that will connect mainland Cebu from the Cebu South Coastal Road to Mactan Circumferential Road in Barangay Pilipog, Cordova.
The project will have two lanes in each direction and will feature the main navigation span bridge, along with viaduct approach bridges, a causeway, roadway and toll facilities.
The span of the bridge allows for shipping traffic and the link is expected to serve at least 40,000 vehicles daily. It will give Cordova direct access to Cebu City and is envisioned to decongest the traffic in the two existing bridges between Mactan and Cebu.
The main bridge of CCLEX will be a single pylon cable-stayed bridge with a span of 390 meters, while the Cordova viaduct will connect the main bridge and toll plaza facilities.
The toll plaza will feature eight lanes for each direction as well as several toll facilities.