Bridge of hope and progress

CCLEX’s iconic bridge blessed and lit to celebrate 500 years of Christianity

The Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (“CCLEX”) was blessed and illuminated on 15 April 2021. CCLEX is a 30 billion, 8.5-kilometer toll bridge that will link Cebu City to the Municipality of Cordova in Mactan Island.

Eight graceful crosses top the CCLEX’s main bridge pylons and are inspired by the cross planted by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan 500 years ago in Cebu, known as a cradle of Christianity in the region.

Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (“MPTC”) Chairman Manuel V Pangilinan was in virtual attendance and said, “We add a deeper and loftier meaning to CCLEX by adding eight 40-meter crosses that celebrate the coming of Christ 500 years ago. These crosses will illuminate the skyline of Metro Cebu - beacons of hope and progress, symbols of achievement, and everything Cebuanos are proud of.”

He thanked MPTC’s partners - the local government units of Cebu City and Cordova, contractors, sub-contractors and workers - for progress on the CCLEX project, which he described as a modern engineering marvel. “In many ways, we at Metro Pacific Tollways are the Magellan’s of today - building ways for people to make discoveries, to travel, and to bring gifts of life and faith, anywhere in this country and even beyond our shores,” he said.

CCLEX will not only reduce traffic and make travel greatly more convenient, it will also facilitate trade and accelerate economic opportunities for Cebu and the Visayas region.

A DREAM OF THE COMMUNITY

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma led the blessing of the CCLEX crosses on board a yacht in the middle of the Mactan Channel. He said that the bridge linking Cebu City to the Municipality of Cordova is a dream of the community that is now becoming a reality.

“The bridge is not just a bridge. The bridge connects and makes people closer together. A beautiful expression of what life should be,” Palma said.

The Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corporation (“CCLEC”) will maintain and operate the facility under a joint venture agreement with the local government units of Cebu City and Cordova. CCLEC is a subsidiary company of MPTC, the toll road arm of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation.

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella added, “With each passing day, we see this landmark project slowly taking shape. I look forward to the day when people from Cebu City and the south can easily go to Mactan Island through CCLEX.”

The blessing and the lighting of the crosses signal the start of the completion of the CCLEX, targeted to be substantially completed by the end of the year. As of March 2021, the overall engineering, procurement and construction contract of CCLEX is at 72.73% while construction progress is at 66.89%. <<

Set to be a new landmark in the Philippines, CCLEX will have two lanes in each direction that will provide a safe, quick and scenic passage to an estimated 50,000 vehicles daily.

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.