President Duterte at the Ground Breaking of ₱27 billion Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway in Cebu Philippines

Ground Breaking of Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway

Around 300 officials in Central Visayas joined with  President Rodrigo Duterte in the groundbreaking ceremony for the ₱27 billion Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway.

The event will take place in Cordova town at 3 p.m. but prior to that, Duterte will hop on a chopper to inspect from the air the site in Cebu City where the other end of the bridge will land.

Jonjie Gonzales, chief of staff of Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino, said Dino will join the President during the aerial inspection.

During the groundbreaking, Secretary Adelino Sitoy, the Presidential Adviser on Legislative Matters, will deliver the welcome message, which will be followed by speeches from Cebu City Mayor Tomas and Manuel Pangilinan, chairman of the Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corporation.

From Cordova, Duterte will proceed to Waterfront Mactan Airport Hotel and Casino to induct the new officers of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry at 5 p.m. The President is expected to speak at the gathering.

He is scheduled to fly to Davao after the event.
Meanwhile, Pangilinan together with Rodrigo Franco, president of MPTDC, Osmeña, Cordova Mayor Mary Therese Sitoy-Cho and former Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy are expected to media briefing on the bridge at Radisson Blu in Cebu City.

Pilipog Bridge
(Pilipog is a binisaya term which means "small kind")

Because the groundbreaking ceremony is just a few meters away from the Pilipog Bridge in Cordova, the bridge will be closed to all vehicles from 12 noon until 4:30 p.m., said the Cordova Response Emergency And Traffic Enforcement (CREATE).

The bridge connects Cordova and Lapu-Lapu City.

All vehicles from Lapu-Lapu City can travel up to the Tacan market area in Babag 2 while those coming from Cordova town proper can travel to the corner of Barangay Ibabao.

Motorists going to and from Cordova are advised to take the Gabi Bridge in going to and from Lapu-Lapu City.

New Route

Spanning eight kilometers, CCLEX will connect Cordova to Cebu City and will serve as an alternate route in going to and from the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

Being a toll bridge facility to be built under a private-public partnership (PPP) scheme, the project will enable the LGUs of Cebu City and Cordova to provide its constituents badly needed infrastructure with private sector funding.

The MPTDC, through its subsidiary, the Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corporation will design, build and operate the bridge.

MPTDC is one of the Philippines’ investment holding companies with proven track record in designing, constructing, financing, and operating toll facilities and expressways.

It currently operates some of the countries’ major expressways such as the North Luzon Expressway, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and Manila Cavite Toll Expressway, paving the way for faster and more efficient movement of transportation, goods and services in central areas of the Philippines. (FREEMAN)

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Cebu Travel Bullish: 12 % Up - Chinese Tourists Visiting the Islands

Paradise Island of Cebu, Central Philippines

More Chinese tourists seen visiting Cebu on better ties

The management of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport is bullish that the volume of Chinese tourists coming in the Philippines via Cebu will continue to increase this year, due to much-improved relations between the two countries.

GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. President Louie B. Ferrer said China has proven to be a significant market for the airport operator, as Chinese tourists now make up 12 percent of the total passenger count at the Cebu air hub from just 8 percent in 2015.  “China is a really an important market for us. Our focus is on China because of the opportunity of the Chinese market,” he said. “We expect a lot from the tourism side, and even businesses.”

Currently, there are two Mainland Chinese airlines flying in and out of Cebu: Xiamen Airlines and Sichuan Airlines.  “China Eastern has also signified its interest,” Ferrer said.

As such, the company is hoping that the Chinese government will set up an embassy in Cebu to further support growth in the Queen City of the South.

“Were also hoping to have visa on arrival for Chinese visitors,” Ferrer said.

GMR-Megawide is targeting to breach the 10-million passenger mark for the airport by the end of 2017. The airport clocked in a 11.5-percent increase in passenger volume to 8.9 million passengers in 2016, from 7.98 million passengers the year prior.  The Filipino-Indian joint venture started operating the airport in Mactan in November 2014, after winning the deal to modernize the existing facility while building a second terminal to support projected growth.

Slated to open in June 2018, Terminal 2 will increase passenger capacity to 12.5 million. The new terminal, spanning 65,500 square meters, will not only lessen congestion but will also offer an exciting and wide-ranging retail environment. The architectural design is inspired by Cebu’s island heritage. - Lorenz S. Marasigan Business Mirror

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US-Asean Business Council upbeat on Philippine Economic Prospects

In Photo: Members of the US-Asean Business Council (US-ABC) hosted a roundtable for Trade Undersecretary Nora K. Terrado on February 22 in Washington, D.C.Photo: Business Mirror

‘FOR the first time in three years, the Philippines made it to the worldwide list of top 20 investment destinations of multinational enterprises,” Trade Undersecretary for Industry Promotion Group Nora K. Terrado told participants in a roundtable organized by the US-Asean Business Council (US-ABC) on February 22 in Washington, D.C.

Terrado said with the country’s 6.8-percent GDP growth in 2016, the Philippines continues to be one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, exhibiting resilience amid external shocks.

This message highlighted Terrado’s presentation about the country’s improving global competitiveness ranking.

Terrado discussed the current administration’s 10-point socio-economic agenda, which aims to sustain improvements in the Philippine investment climate, support rural development, and further enhance the country’s infrastructure, human capital and social-protection programs.

“The whole government is tasked to continue to improve the ease of doing business in the Philippines,” Terrado said.

As chair for Asean 2017 Summit, the Philippines is poised to highlight the region’s strengths by engaging the international business community, foreign governments and investors through the Asean Business and Investment Program (Abip).

As chairman for the Asean Committee on Business and Investment Promotion, Terrado urged the US-ABC and its members to participate in the business activities to be held in the Philippines, focusing on themes, such as regulatory coherence, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), women and youth entrepreneurship, and innovation.

Marc Mealy, vice president for policy of the US-ABC, expressed positive feedback after the dialogue with Terrado.

“With the Philippines serving as the current Asean chairman and having one of the highest GDP growth rates in Asia, the representatives from the 13 American multinational companies who participated were keen to receive the undersecretary’s update on current business trends in the Philippines and the economic priorities of the Duterte administration,” Mealy said. “The Council looks forward to conducting our 2017 senior executives business mission to the Philippines later this year.”

The US-ABC members that participated in the dialogue were Coca-Cola, Fluor, Citi and Philip Morris, among others. - BUSINESS MIRROR

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