The fourth bridge is needed to meet the expanding traffic capacity between the two islands generated by the booming Cebu’s industry and tourism.

The DPWJ will next month submit proposals to build the Quezon-Bicol Expressway (QBEx) and a fourth bridge connecting Cebu City to Mactan.

THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is set to submit two big-ticket infrastructure projects for the approval of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

In a chance interview with reporters last week, DPWH Secretary Mark Villar said the agency will submit in November proposals to build the Quezon-Bicol Expressway (QBEx) and a fourth bridge in Cebu, to be called the New Cebu Mactan bridge.

Both projects are seen completed under a public-private partnership program. The cost of the projects have yet to be determined.

Villar said the QBEx will most likely be between 160 kilometers (km) and 180 km long and run from Pagbilao in Quezon up to the existing Maharlika Highway in San Fernando, Camarines Sur.

The QBEx is expected to provide a faster alternative option for travelers going between Quezon and Bicol provinces to the congested Maharlika Highway, which also spans over 200 kms.

Based on an indicative timeline, the DPWH expects to start the construction of the highway in the first quarter of 2022.

Meanwhile, the New Cebu Mactan Bridge will be a 6.78-km bridge with a 0.58-km bridge component and a 6.2-km coastal road component which will connect Mactan Island and Mandaue City.

Part of the bridge will be the Mandaue coastal road project which will be constructed as an extension of the proposed Metro Cebu circumferential road or proposed Mandaue-Liloan diversion road

Villar said that the New Cebu Mactan Bridge proposal is still with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which has been pushing for the construction of the project.

“(The fourth bridge is needed) to meet the expanding traffic capacity between the two islands generated by the booming Cebu’s industry and tourism,” said JICA project team head Hiroyuki Morimoto earlier.

Spanning over the Mactan channel, the bridge project with four lanes and a 22.2-meter wide roadway is expected to affect Barangays Ibo and Pusok in Lapu-Lapu City and Umapad and Opao in Mandaue City.