The Department of Public Works and Highways plans to bid out the extension and operations and maintenance of Metro Cebu Expressway next year, a top official said over the weekend.
“We’re now doing some portions [of Metro Cebu Expressway] using local funds. Hopefully, once it is approved by NEDA, we’re tendering for private sector the extension and operations and maintenance,” Public Works Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral said.
Cabral said the department would submit the project documents to NEDA by the first quarter of 2023.
The proposed MCE project is a north-south bypass road along the hills of Metro Cebu. The arterial toll road is expected to serve as another north-south backbone highway providing a seamless traffic flow from Naga City to Danao City and traversing the slopes of the mountain range of Cebu province.
It is expected to address traffic congestion in Metro Cebu especially its urban core and the central business district.
The DPWH said the project would reduce travel time between Naga City and Consolacion from 1.5 hours to 30 minutes and between Naga City and Danao City from three hours to 50 minutes.
The agency said the indicative project cost of MCE is about P94.07 billion. MCE is one of the priority projects of the DPWH under the public-private-partnership program.
Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway Corp. president and general manager Allan Alfon earlier said the company was interested in the Metro Cebu Expressway Project.
CCLEC has completed the P33-billion Cebu Cordova Expressway—an 8.5 km. bridge linking Cebu City, the municipality of Cordova and outlying towns of Cebu province.
CCLEX has two lanes in each direction that will provide a safe, quick and scenic passage to around 50,000 vehicles daily, easing the traffic in two old bridges―the Marcelo Fernan Bridge and the Mandaue-Mactan Bridge.