Both newly-elected Cebu Governor Pamela Baricuatro and Cebu City Mayor Nestor Archival agreed on Monday to fast-track the Metro Cebu Expressway (MCE) linking the City of Naga in the south and Danao City in the north.

Archival asked Baricuatro to create a team to check on it.

“I asked her, ‘Gov, can we join forces? You have your engineers, I have mine. Then, with the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways), we will find a way to expedite it because it will really help the traffic,’” Archival said.

MCE is a proposed 73.7-kilometer highway intended to connect Danao and Naga through Cebu’s mountain ranges, providing an alternative route.

In early 2024, outgoing Governor Gwendolyn Garcia ordered the DPWH to temporarily stop the MCE project due to environmental and safety concerns, particularly after landslides caused a collapse in some sections that lacked an environmental compliance certificate.

The DPWH has officially removed the MCE from its list of Priority Infrastructure Flagship Programs with the Provincial Government initiating the project under a public-private partnership.

The MCE is a major infrastructure project aimed at easing traffic congestion in Metro Cebu.

It has an indicative project cost of P94.07 billion.

Civil works cost with six lanes at P61.48 billion; right-of-way cost at P20.81 billion; and detailed engineering design, construction supervision, independent consultant, project management, transaction advisors, physical contingency and price contingency at P11.78 billion.