By JUNE S. BLANCO

BARRING any hitches, travel to Cebu from Bohol will just be a land trip. This after Rep. Erico Aumentado (2nd District,Bohol) urged the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to endorse his proposal for technical assistance for the project mulled to connect Bohol and Cebu by a bridge to the Korean International Cooperation Agency (Koica). Koica provides official development assistance (ODA) from its government funds kept at the Korea Export-Import Bank (Eximbank) called the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF). In his letter to Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson dated Jan. 13, Aumentado said the former’s predecessor had endorsed the same to the Socio-Economic Secretary and to the Koica deputy resident representative.

The solon however wants to follow up the project. Considering the changes in the leadership in the Cabinet, he wants to start afresh, hence the Singson letter. The distance between Getafe in Bohol and Cordova in Cebu, he told Singson, is only 17.5 kilometers. The two towns will be the anchors of the proposed bridge. Except for the Olango and Hilotongan Channels, he said, the rest separating the two provinces are just islands, shoals and shallow seawaters. This augurs well for a simple design and easy construction of the bridge, he said. He added that the Provincial Development Council (PDC) that he used to chair already endorsed the project through a reiterative resolution in 2009. The original resolution already had endorsement of the Central Visayas Regional Development Council (RDC 7) chaired by Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia to the DPWH, requesting for its own endorsement of the project to the EDCF. The endorsements already contained the project profile.

The technical assistance sought is for a grant for the conduct of a feasibility study and detailed engineering design (DED) for the future Bohol-Cebu Multi-Access Friendship Bridge. It is expected to accelerate the dispersal of industries from Cebu to Bohol, especially the northeast corridor. Due to luxury of space in Bohol that is now prohibitive in urban Cebu, the connection can be a solution to the latter’s industrial congestion as well as squatter problem. Aumentado also said the bridge can accelerate the symbiotic exchange of excess water from Bohol after satisfying its domestic needs while Cebu can send power, expected to be a surplus by 2015 because of the development of coal-fired plants now. Bohol is limited to developing hydroelectric power as other forms can be detrimental to its environment which is the anchor of its eco-cultural and adventure tourism. These commodities can be transported through cables and pipelines astride the bridge, along with fiber optics from Cebu for Bohol’s information and communication technology program.

The solon has initiated back-channel talks with the proper Korean government authorities and expressed confidence that the ODA grant requested will be favourably considered “in the light of the strong relations of Korea and the Philippines when the two countries fought side by side with United Nations Forces during the Korean Peninsular War. The bridge can be constructed under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law. This early, Aumentado said a group of Chinese financiers as well as the International Bridge Construction Company of California have expressed interest in undertaking the project either through BOT or the Build-Operate-Own scheme which means the Philippine government will not spend a single centavo for it. Aside from endorsement to Koica and the Eximbank-EDCF, the solon also asked Singson to similarly endorse it to the NEDA Investments Coordinating Committee Technical Board (ICC-TB) chaired by Deputy Director General Rolando Tungpalan and other appropriate authorities in order to complete the process. He furnished Country Director Man Hwan Park of Korea Eximbank in Makati, Koica Philippines Resident Representative Kim Jinoh, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and Mayors Adelino Sitoy of Cordova and Cary Camacho of Getafe with copies of his letter to Singson.