Metro Pacific plans P800 million Drive&Dine complex in CCLEX

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) plans to build an P800-million Drive&Dine complex in the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) to boost traffic volume in the bridge.

Renato Ticzon, vice president and marketing consultant at MPTC subsidiary MPT Mobility, told reporters the firm will put up a Drive&Dine in CCLEX next year, similar to the one along the North Luzon Expressway.

He said the CCLEX Drive&Dine will be situated in a 1.5-hectare area to the side of the expressway, giving passersby a perfect view of the cable-stayed bridge.

Ticzon said the CCLEX Drive&Dine is expected to host up to 20 establishments, many of which offer food, while some sell souvenirs. As such, the travel hub is banked on to add traffic volume to CCLEX, especially as it has yet to reach its maximum capacity for daily usage.

“It will help in bringing in additional traffic because the bridge itself is a solution to the congestion in the other bridges [in Cebu]. Traffic in the other bridges are way heavy, but Cebuanos have yet to get used to taking the Cordova route,” Ticzon said.

“In summary, the CCLEX Drive&Dine is just really a stopover, a rest area, [where] motorists can do a little bit of shopping,” he said.

However, the MPT Mobility executive said the group has yet to decide on what establishments it would invite to lease commercial spaces in the CCLEX Drive&Dine.

As much as the MPTC unit wants to keep the food hub affordable for all income classes, Ticzon said it might be difficult for small-scale enterprises to pay rent in the area.

“We still need to decide on that. Is it going to be high end? It may be too costly. However, there is a per square meter rental at the CCLEX Drive&Dine. If your products are as local as danggit, then you may find it challenging to pay lease there. You can locate in a little space there, but we don’t want that of course,” Ticzon said.

CCLEX, the Metro Pacific Group’s architectural pride, has yet to hit its full capacity in terms of daily traffic and toll revenue as investors are just restarting operations and tourism is only beginning to scale up. At present, the 8.5-kilometer bridge generates P1 million every day from the passage of at least 12,500 motorists.

CCLEX Corp., operator of the bridge, projects daily traffic to surge to 20,000 by December as a result of the holiday influx of tourists to Cebu. The firm estimates toll revenue to hit P2 million a day, with rates of P90 for Class 1, P180 for Class 2 and P270 for Class 3 vehicles.

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The article was originally published in PhilStar Global and written by Elijah Felice Rosales.