BOHOL Governor Erico Aumentado successfully goaded the Regional Development Council (RDC7) to prop up the move for the government's public works department to endorse another mega project here, during the recent full council meeting of the regional development body. Aumentado, who has been so convinced about the feasibility of a multi-access friendship bridge that would cross the shallow channels of Bohol to Cebu has initially sought for grants for its feasibility study. As soon as the feasibility study is done, a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) endorsesent for international funding would allow funding agencies to pore into the project.

Finally succeeding in getting a $3M grant from the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) of South Korea , Aumentado then took the privilege of seeking the RDC support to push the DPWH to endorse the project for funding. Despite its non-inclusion from the prepared meeting agenda, Aumentado who sits as the host province's main representatve reported that the project has already gained a grant for its feasibility study. Rising to the occasion, and to the mutual benefits both provinces can economically get from the proposal, RDC Chair and Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia steered the council to yield in to the Aumentado request. The plan, according to the Bohol governor is to put up a bridge which would connect Tugas Point in Getafe Bohol to the islets within the Danajon reefs and then off to Olango and then in Cordova Cebu.

Proposed to be a multi-access friendship bridge, the facility would be a conduit for three major development projects: an open transportation access for Cebu and Bohol land trips; a common channel for the fiber optic connection that would tap Bohol into the digital information superhighway and for further developments, a possible infrastructure conduit for sharing potable water for the requirements of highly urbanized Cebu City and its nearby areas. Reporting further, Aumentado said he was already set to meet the South Korean Ambassador to thresh out the details of the project and for possible funding by the Korean International Cooperation Agency. A staunch administration ally, Aumentado has been aggressively seeking the realization of high impact infrastructure projects wants this final act as an Administration legacy and a clear econmic investment of the people (PIA)