DPWH to complement project
CEBU CITY (April 17, 2024) – Residents of three barangays where the Guadalupe ramp of the Cebu Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) would crossover are receptive about the vital infrastructure that would pass through their places.
“They were very receptive because we explained to them the totality of this project,” said Arch’t. Joseph Michael “Yumi” Espina, head of the city planning and development office (CPDO).
Meanwhile, the city planner disclosed that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has committed to complement the project by widening Tres de Abril Street that would connect to V. Rama Ave. at the N. Bacalso Ave. junction.
He said DPWH Cebu City Engineering District is on the parcellary stage of its study on the national road that its previous head Eng’r. Yusoph Rasuman started, and now continued by district engineer Ramon Devanadera.
Espina shared that the city with the CCLEX developer and operator, CCLEX Corp. (CCLEC), had been conducting hearings in barangays along Guadalupe river — Pasil, Pahina San Nicolas, and Ermita.
“We are working closely with CCLEX,” Espina said during an interview over Patigayon Sugbo, the business and economy program of Sugboanon Channel, last month.
He said they had three barangay hearings in Pahina San Nicolas where most of the ramp landing and approach will be located, while all the posts of the ramp will be built along the Pasil side of Guadalupe River.
Espina said only a few structures will be affected in the erection of the series of single posts beside the riverbank that will support the ramp that will cross over the river.
Eng’r. Allan G. Alfon, president and general manager of CCLEC, said the company will adopt a cantilever design that will support the ramp.
A cantilever beam is a structural element that extends horizontally and is supported on only at one end. The unsupported end is known as the cantilever, and it extends beyond the support point.
Espina assured that the flow in Guadalupe river will not be impeded as the posts of the ramp will stand beyond the three-meter easement.
“It will not disrupt the flow of the river, but it will also help in the resettlement of the aspiring sector along the river’s easement,” he said.
He said Task Force Gubat sa Baha “is now waiting for this so that they can clean up the river and relieve the three-meter easements.”
He also assured that the transition housing will be ready for the affected dwellers to move-in. The same will subsequently move into the medium-rise buildings for socialized housing the city will build.
Traffic
The city planner also said CPDO staff explained to the residents the impact of the project to the city’s economy, primarily in terms of traffic.
“We are trying to address the traffic to relieve the traffic in the urban core of Cebu City,” he said.
Espina projected one third of the traffic from Cebu mainland to Mactan island, especially the airport and the east coast resorts will now pass through CCLEX through the Guadalupe ramp.
The CCLEC president disclosed that the carriageway of the ramp will be 30-meters wide, with two lanes at each side, with additional spaces for the bike lane and sidewalk.
As part of the design, Espina said a boardwalk will be set-up under the ramp along the easement, a linear park like a promenade.
There will also be pocket parks and medium-rise housing buildings for socialized housing along the way, he added.
P5-6 billion
After the parcellary survey, Alfon estimated the project cost for the 1.5-kilometer stretch at five to six billion pesos, over and above the P32 billion the company spent for the main bridge.
“From mid this year, the project will be completed towards the end of 2026,” he said.
Impact
In previous separate interviews in Patigayon Sugbo, business leaders Charles Kenneth Co and Robert Go expect the “huge impact” into the economy of the city and the rest of Metro Cebu.
Both said the ramp will significantly reduce both the time and energy costs in the transportation of raw materials and finished products, as well as the travel of professionals living and working on either side of the bridge.
Co until lately was president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), while Go is the immediate past governor of the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) and past president of its Cebu chapter.
| PPRMN / cte
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