CEBU, Philippines - The National Economic and Development Authority is hopeful on the renewed push to build the Bohol-Cebu Friendship Bridge especially that it was endorsed for funding by prospective Chinese investors when President Duterte visited China in October this year.

"It's up for feasibility study. And the proposal is for China funding," NEDA Regional Head Efren Carreon said.

The NEDA Board recently expressed its approval on the project which had been lined up for feasibility study and pre-engineering work eyed to start next year once the proposal is approved.

According to earlier reports, the study would identify whether the government would implement the project through build-operate-transfer, through public-private partnership or through concession loans.

The bridge will link Getafe town in Bohol and Cordova town on Mactan Island in Cebu.

Carreon said the Bohol-Cebu bridge is part of the "One Visayas Interconnectivity" long-term vision.

But he expressed hopes that all these plans should not remain on paper again as these had been proposed years back.

In fact, he added a bridge linking Cebu and Negros Oriental had also been proposed.

He said this should also be endorsed for feasibility study.

He added that the planned Light Railway Transit (LRT) should also have a feasibility study as soon as possible.

Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia had said the government received an unsolicited proposal from a South Korean company to build an LRT in Metro Cebu that would boost development and provide an alternative transport for workers and businesses.

Cebu is in dire need of quality, fast and reliable mass transit systems to decongest its main roads where traffic is getting worse due to the increasing car volume.

Cebu's low quality and unreliable mass transport, the jeepneys, has not been able to keep up with the demands of Cebu's rising economic and increasing population.

The increasing volume of vehicles plying inadequate roads and highways in the metropolis has contributed to the traffic woes.

Meanwhile, the approved P9.2-billion Cebu International Container Port is expected to be implemented in the third quarter of next year.

The port project is also projected to be completed by the second quarter of 2020.

NEDA said the government will seek for a South Korean development assistance for the Cebu port project which involves the construction of a new sea port in Barangay Tayud, Consolacion, northern Cebu given that the existing Cebu International Port (CIP) in Cebu City is already congested at a utilization rate of 97 percent.

Likewise, the Panglao airport project in Bohol is also in full swing, Carreon said.

Aside from the P7.8-billion expansion of the new Bohol airport construction, the NEDA Board had also approved the P2.2-billion modernization of Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital in Tagbilaran City, Bohol.

The airport project relocates the existing domestic Tagbilaran Airport to a new airport facility of international standards in Panglao Island and includes the extension of the runway from 2 kilometers to 2.5 kilometers.

The project, which is estimated to cost P7.8 billion, anticipates new international airport capacity and airline requirements arising from the expected increase in domestic and international airline passengers to Bohol and other tourism destinations in Visayas.

The new Bohol airport is expected to be completed by June 2018.

Also, the P2.2-billion modernization project of the Gallares hospital in Tagbilaran City will increase the hospital's capacity to a 500-bed capacity from the present 250-bed.

The project has 24 months of implementation. (FREEMAN)