Manila consortium keen on Cebu highway project

CEBU, Philippines - A Manila-based consortium has said it is keen on pursuing the multi-billion peso trans-axial highway project in Cebu.

“We are going into the project. We are very interested,” said Aristotle Batuhan, legal counsel for the Strategic Alliance Holdings Incorporated (SAHI).

Batuhan told reporters yesterday that “if we find it (highway project) financially and technically feasible, then we will submit our proposal.”

SAHI officials met with Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, Capitol consultant Rory Jon Sepulveda and the provincial engineers to discuss the highway project.

“It is never dead. We have always seen it as a live project,” Batuhan said, contradicting earlier reports that the project is as good as dead. 

He said they would study the project in six months before they would submit their proposal to the Capitol.

Vice Governor Gregorio Sanchez Jr. earlier said the proposed trans-axial highway has a slim chance to be materialized because of the inaction of the Cebu Economic Enterprise Council (EEC).

But some Capitol officials clarified that the project is not yet ready for bidding, saying that what Sanchez’s team has submitted was only a pre-feasibility study.

Batuhan said that the “province is very promising because of its huge potential. We’d seen the potential traffic that will flow into Cebu coming from the island neighbors.”

Batuhan said that if the project would be realized, all traffic from Mindanao and neighboring provinces will converge to Cebu because of the huge local market.

He said that Sepulveda invited them to a meeting with Garcia and the engineering team of the provincial a few weeks ago.

Batuhan said they wanted to secure pertinent papers on the initial study done by the Capitol on the project before coming up with their own proposal.

However, he admitted that the biggest obstacle in their way to pursue the project is the fact that the provincial government will not spend a single centavo for it.

For his part, Sepulveda said they are still studying whether the project will be implemented through built-operate-transfer scheme, joint venture or straight contract.

“We want to be certain what appropriate vehicle to use under the circumstances. We have not done this project before. This is a flagship project of the province,” said Sepulveda.

Within this month, Sepulveda said two more foreign groups will be coming to Cebu to inquire about the project.

“Within this year, we’re very, very optimistic that once we get all the pictures here, then we can report to the public what actual steps to be undertaken,” Sepulveda said.

The planned project involves the construction of a 300-kilometer, four-lane highway that will run through the middle of the elongated province, connecting Daanbantayan in the north to Santander in the south.

It was also envisioned to host new economic zones along its entire length, bringing vital economic activity into the Cebu interior.

Sepulveda said they would report the progress of the project to the EEC, in which Sanchez is the co-chairperson. — Garry B. Lao/LPM (THE FREEMAN)