It’s about time Capitol utilizes its billions!

Finally, Capitol has taken the lead in the completion of the Metro Cebu Expressway (MCE) that will traverse the mountain ridges of Cebu as an alternate route from the City of Naga in the south to Danao City in the north. It is about time Gov. Gwen Garcia used the Capitol’s income worth billions that made it the richest province in the country.

My take is that as governor of the richest province, Garcia does not even have to wait for offers or assistance from the National Government on road projects. She knows that if Cebu has more and better road networks that this will mean more investments. This goes without saying that this will further raise the bar of the Province’s economic status in the country.

This national road that was started during the term of then President Rodrigo Duterte in 2018 will traverse the mountain ridges of Cebu. It is designed to serve as a backbone highway that will provide a fast and smooth flow of traffic from the City of Naga in the south to Danao City in the north. This project will also address traffic congestion in Metro Cebu’s business centers.

On orders of Governor Garcia, work on this road project was halted last February due to the lack of the necessary environmental studies and permits after a portion of the project area, particularly in Barangays Inayagan and Cantao-an in the City of Naga, experienced landslides sometime in October 2023.

Capitol’s media arm posted on Saturday, April 6, stating that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has endorsed the Provincial Government’s offer made last month to lead the completion of the long-delayed 56.9-kilometer MCE project.

It was reported that lawyer Arjay Peralta of the DPWH public-private partnership service office in Manila personally handed a copy of the letter from DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan to Governor Garcia.

The letter stated DPWH’s full support on the bid of Cebu Province to complete the MCE project through a public-private partnership. The letter was addressed to National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan and Public-Private Partnership Center (PPPC) Executive Director Ma. Cynthia Hernandez.

After formally turning over this road project to the Province of Cebu, the DPWH has delisted the MCE project from its Priority Infrastructure Flagship Programs/Public Investment Program.

According to Peralta, the Provincial Government can begin the project implementation without waiting for the concurrence of Neda or PPPC with DPWH.

Governor Garcia, in a statement, emphasized that this development will grant a way for the Provincial Economic Enterprise Council to receive proposals from the private sector who might be interested in the P94 billion road project construction.

It was also reported that the Capitol would no longer follow the original plan of the DPWH. There will be realignment of this stretch of road on where and how to reach Danao City. This MCE project once completed will become part of Cebu Province’s road networks.

And I do not think Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama will interfere in how the Capitol will pursue the MCE project because it is beyond the ambit of the mayor’s territorial jurisdiction even with his ongoing disagreements with the feisty lady governor.

I am pointing this out here because there seems to be a public focus now on the verbal exchange between Mayor Rama and Governor Garcia after the governor ordered a stop on the BRT project’s work near Capitol and her comment on the port project of the Cebu Port Authority that Mayor Rama halted.