Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. said Wednesday the construction of the P30-billion Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway reached a progress rate of 59.68 percent as of January this year.
“Despite the constructional challenges because of the health and safety protocols being observed due to COVID-19, our team is doing their best to complete this most anticipated infrastructure project in Cebu and the rest of the Visayas region as soon as possible,” Allan Alfon, president and general manager of Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corp., said.
MPTC said that as of January 2021, the overall engineering, procurement and construction contract of CCLEX was at 68.21 percent while construction progress reached 59.68 percent.
“From the beginning, we have always known the socio-economic impact of CCLEX to the entire Visayan region,” said MPTC chairman Manuel Pangilinan.
The CCLEX, being built at a project cost of P30 billion, spans the Mactan Channel, linking mainland Cebu from Cebu City with the town across the famed channel, notably Cordova, in Mactan Island.
The project’s concrete pylons on the side of Cebu City and Cordova were completed and reached their full structural height of 145 meters over Mactan Channel. With continuing dismantling of the self-climbing formworks, the crosses on top of the pylons are now visible.
The installation of eight crosses on top of the CCLEX pylons will be completed and illuminated by hundreds of LED strip lights before the historic commemoration.
CCLEX will be part of the quin-centennial commemorative celebrations in April 2021, with its eight 40-meter high crosses on all four sides of each of the twin towers. These will be lit at night, dramatically proclaiming once again Christianity’s influence in the Asia’s first Christian nation.
CCLEX is being implemented by CCLEC under a joint venture agreement with the local governments of Cebu City and Municipality of Cordova.
Set to be a new landmark in the country, CCLEX will have two lanes in each direction that will provide a safe, quick and scenic passage to an estimated 50,000 vehicles daily, easing the traffic in the existing Marcelo Fernan Bridge and the Mandaue-Mactan Bridge.
CCLEX has a design speed of 80 kilometers per hour and a navigational clearance or height of 51 meters to allow large vessels to pass underneath the bridge.
CCLEC is a subsidiary company of MPTC, the toll road arm of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. which is a publicly-listed infrastructure holding company and a member of the MVP Group.