Davide: Province bound to honor bridge contract

CEBU, Philippines - Although he respects the idea of former congressman Eduardo Gullas to have the third bridge linked to Talisay City, Governor Hilario Davide III yesterday said the province is bound to honor the agreement on the proposed Cebu City-Mactan bridge.

 â€œWe respect the opinion of former congressman Gullas…but we are bound by that (memorandum of agreement),” Davide said.

Davide was referring to the MOA entered into by the Cebu City and Cebu provincial governments with Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., which allows the latter to study on the feasibility of having the third bridge from Mactan Island end in the northern part of Cebu City.

But the governor clarified it is only a study and not the actual project itself. He explained that the results of this study will determine if it is really practicable to construct the third bridge in the mentioned areas.

From there, they will make another agreement to purse the project — that if it is feasible, he added.

“Naay MOA with Metro Pacific, ato sang tan-awon kung feasible ba gyud. (There is a MOA with Metro Pacific. Let us see if [construction] would really be feasible),” he said.

Davide thinks the bridge from Mactan to Talisay City may be longer, although he said everything is still being studied and nothing is yet final.

“Former congressman Gullas wants it sa Talisay, but taas-taas man na. But let’s see. I can’t make a judgment until the study sa Metro Pacific is completed (Gullas wants it connected to Talisay…I think that would be long. But let’s see. I can’t make a judgment until the Metro Pacific study is completed),” he said.

“Ang objective ani, third access to Lapu-Lapu. We would need the third access. Kung asa ni ang third access, daghan kaayong nagtuon ana (The objective here is third access to Lapu-Lapu. Wherever the third access will be, a lot are studying on that),” he added.

Earlier, Gullas opined that the third bridge should be linked to Talisay City to also service people coming from the south and also to decongest vehicular traffic in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue. — (FREEMAN)