A multi-billion peso Bacolod Coastal Express Way from barangays Banago to Punta Taytay, which will decongest traffic in the city, was one of six projects pitched by the team of Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez to investors at the Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong last week.
The Bacolod Coastal Express Way is envisioned to connect to a coastal highway from Barangay Banago all the way to Victorias City to be built by the Department of Public Works and Highways, Benitez said at a press conference on Tuesday, September 19.
Benitez said he also discussed connecting the coastal express way from Bacolod to Pulupandan with the DPWH. The Guimaras-Negros bridge will connect to Pulupandan, he pointed out.
It will be a coastal stretch from the Guimaras-Negros Bridge in Pulupandan through Bacolod all the way to Victorias, he said.
A feasibility study for the Bacolod Coastal Express Way will be conducted for funding, he said.
The project will provide a faster route from the seaports of the city, decongest the city’s main thoroughfares and boost the economic development of Bacolod and the entire province, the investors in Hong Kong were told.
The area is also envisioned to be a major economic and tourism zone.
Dr. Mae Llamas, head of the Bacolod Economic Development and Investment Promotions Office, said the five other projects pitched by the Bacolod team to investors in Hong Kong were the Asenso Yuhum housing project, renewable energy, underground cabling, Bacolod as a Smart City and a bus rapid transit system.
They received inquiries on the bus rapid transit system from an investor from China and on renewable energy, Llamas said.
The potential route for the bus rapid transit system is from Bacolod to the Bacolod-Silay International Airport, and also to decongest traffic within the city, she said.
She said the Belt and Road Summit is a platform where government representatives, project owners, contractors and different stakeholders meet to look into prospects for business matching.
Joining the summit was an opportunity to be able to showcase Bacolod’s projects, she said.
They also met with the Hong Kong Trade Development Council Manila consultant who invited the mayor to a financing forum in February, she said.
“That is where we will be able to tap international funds for the projects that we have in mind,” Llamas said, which could include availing of grants.
Councilor Al Victor Espino, who joined the mayor in Hong Kong, said the Belt and Road Summit was initiated by China 10 years ago to link Asia, Africa and Europe.
Participating in the summit introduced Bacolod to these continents for potential investments, he said.*