Gov’t to build 8 bridges connecting Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao

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Gov’t to build 8 bridges connecting Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao
By: Ben O. de Vera - Reporter / @bendeveraINQ
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:16 PM April 19, 2018

http://business.inquirer.net/249506/govt-build-8-bridges-connecting-luzon-visayas-mindanao#ixzz5DIMfToRt

The government will build eight bridges connecting the Visayas to Luzon and Mindanao to facilitate faster movement of people and goods across the archipelago, the Department of Finance said Thursday.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said these eight bridges estimated to cost a total of P269.19 billion will also be complemented by the rollout of road networks aimed at transforming the Visayan islands into growth corridors.

Up for approval of the National Economic and Development Authority’s Investment Coordination Committee (Neda-ICC) are the following projects: 18.2-kilometer bridge connecting Luzon and Samar islands; 20-km bridge connecting Leyte and Mindanao islands either through a long-span overhead or an underwater tunnel; 12.3-km bridge connecting Negros and Guimaras islands; and 5.7-km bridge connecting Panay and Guimaras islands.

The Neda-ICC is also set to approve the 24.5-km Cebu-Bohol link bridge; 5.5-km Cebu-Negros link bridge; 18-km bridge connecting Leyte and Lapinig Island; and one-km bridge connecting Bohol and Lapinig Island.

“These bridges will provide growth corridors and ensure that none of the major islands of the Visayas will be left behind in the country’s race to progress,” Dominguez said in a speech read by Finance Undersecretary Bayani H. Agabin during the Philippine Economic Briefing in Cebu City.

“In addition, the Department of Public Works and Highways is working round the clock to construct the road networks that will make these bridges truly meaningful as growth corridors for the island economies in central Philippines,” Dominguez added.

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Neda chief: Negros-Panay bridge to break ground in 2019
MARCHEL P. ESPINA
62 days ago

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/419709/

QUEZON CITY -- National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Director-General Ernesto Pernia said the Negros-Panay Bridge is expected to break ground in 2019.

Pernia, in an interview with SunStar Bacolod at the sidelines of the University of the Philippines Science Journalism Awards night at UP Diliman on February 17, said the feasibility study is underway.

"When the project is conceived, the first thing that should be done is a feasibility study, whether worthwhile and if the economic feasibility is promising," he said.

He said the feasibility study is "almost going to be complete."

The study, which started last year, is expected to be completed by June this year.

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He said the project will break ground in 2019, adding it is possible the bridge construction will be finished before the term of President Rodrigo Duterte ends in 2022.

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Pernia said the funding will be sourced from the Official Development Assistance from other countries like Japan, Korea, China, or from the World Bank.

He said the cost will be determined after the feasibility study is concluded.

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Panay-Guimaras-Negros bridge pre-feasibility study starts
September 15, 2017 | 12:02 am   

http://bworldonline.com/panay-guimaras-negros-bridge-pre-feasibility-study-starts/

ILOILO CITY — State-owned China Communications Construction Co., Ltd. (CCCC) has started the pre-feasibility study for the P27.156-billion bridge that will link the islands of Panay, Guimaras and Negros.

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“We are looking at having the pre-feasibility study finished by 2017. Then we will have one year for the detailed engineering and another year, which is in 2019 for the procurement. Then probably it might start (construction) at the earliest in 2020,” she said.

The pre-feasibility study, she added, will be the main reference for further discussions between the Philippine and Chinese governments in implementing the project.

Ms. Bacal said other proponents who earlier expressed interest in the bridge have not provided an update since the Chinese came in to pursue the project.

Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark A. Villar said in October that the Korean Export-Import Bank has taken initial steps for a new feasibility study for the three-island link, which was previously assessed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

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