THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has endorsed the proposed Bohol-Cebu Multi-Access Friendship Bridge to the Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund (KEDCF). In his letter to Rep. Erico Aumentado (2 nd District, Bohol), Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said he wrote to KEDCF Director of Co-Financing Team Jong-kyu Park to extend technical assistance to support the preparation of the feasibility and business case study for the project. Recognizing the complex nature of very long span bridges, Singson recommended that a public-private partnership (PPP) business case study be undertaken hand in hand with the feasibility study. He said this should be the initial step to ascertain viability given the magnitude of investment requirements, technical and design issues, and whether investments can be pursued utilizing a suitable PPP investment modality.

The Singson move was in answer to Aumentado’s request for endorsement of the project for possible technical assistance for its consideration in possible 2012-2016 country programming windows. As the solon sees it, the bridge will anchor in the northern Bohol town of Getafe, spanning the shallows and shoals between that and Cordova in Cebu – a distance of only around 17 kilometers.  Singson said he deems the detailed design for the same to be complex and exhaustive as can be expected from modelling long span facilities for suitable cost-effective design and implementation approach. This early, the secretary said, the design may require “conservatively a three-year period and should be considered a next step to feasibility and business case studies should these prove viable.” To note, Singson’s predecessor Hermogenes Ebdane had endorsed the project to the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) and the Korea Export-Import Bank (Eximbank) as early as in 2009 to which the Seoul-based EDCF responded that it will consider extending technical assistance to support the preparation of the feasibility study. However, Aumentado wanted to start afresh considering the change in administration.