The national government has allotted P1.2 billion to initially fund the planned construction of the fourth Cebu-Mactan bridge project, Cebu Rep. Eduardo “Eddie” Gullas said Sunday.
The veteran lawmaker said the new Cebu-Mactan Bridge and Coastal Road Construction Project is appropriated under the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021.
“The P1.2 billion is among the items in the 2021 spending program of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for the construction of new bridges,” Gullas, a member of the House Committee on Appropriations, said.
He said the initial P1.2 billion for the new crossing between the main island of Cebu and smaller island of Mactan is part of the DPWH’s P13.7-billion spending plan to build new bridges across the country under the 2021 national budget.
“The new Cebu-Mactan Bridge and Coastal Road Construction Project is an absolutely critical component of Metro Cebu’s future infrastructure,” he said, citing a study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) that Metro Cebu has been incurring P400 million in daily economic productivity losses due to growing road congestion, which is being aggravated by vehicular traffic bottlenecks in the crossings between Mactan and the main island.
Gullas, a former provincial governor,noted that the P1.2-billion project involves the construction of a 3.3-kilometer long-span road bridge and a 4.9-kilometer coastal road, with two or three lanes in each direction.
“We need this new bridge to speed up in a big way Cebu’s shipping of raw materials and finished goods as well as the transfer of our workforces,” he said.