The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is targeting to start the actual construction of the proposed Iloilo-Guimaras-Negros Island Link Bridge by the second quarter of 2021.
According to DPWH Secretary Mark, the feasibility study on the project is underway and is expected to be completed next month.
“[With the feasibility study], we can proceed with detailed engineering,” he said on Monday, Sept. 23.
DPWH Undersecretary for Planning Maria Catalina Cabral said they would submit the result of feasibility study immediately to the National Economic Development Authority’s Investment Coordinating Council for approval.
Once approved, the Department of Finance (DOF) will look for funding for the project.
Villar said the construction of the Iloilo-Guimaras link will take up to two years and be finished in 2023, or well beyond the term of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The second phase, which would link Guimaras to Negros Island, would be finished in 2024, Villar said.
Ilonggo Senator Franklin Drilon stressed that the project was crucial because it would provide a safer transport alternative to sea travel in the dangerous seas between Iloilo and Guimaras.
“This is already the fourth year of the Duterte administration. It was committed in the first year. We already lost 31 lives to a tragedy,” Drilon said.
“I hope we do not wait for another 31 lives to be lost again before we start the construction of this very important bridge,” he added.
Last August 3, three passenger pumpboats capsized in Iloilo Strait.IMT
