The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH-6) said the feasibility study for the proposed bridge connecting the islands of Panay, Guimaras, and Negros in Western Visayas is still under review.
According to Engineer Jose Al Fruto, DPWH-6 assistant regional director, the review of the feasibility study submitted by the Chinese government is being conducted by “Korean consultants.”
The P27.1-billion bridge project will be funded by Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korean Eximbank).
Fruto said the actual construction of the bridge is expected to start next year.
In October last year, Ilonggo Senator Fraklin Drilon pressed the DPWH to speed up the implementation of the 32-kilometer Panay-Guimaras-Negros (PGN) bridge.
“This is very frustrating. We have been pushing for this project—all of us, the people of Panay, Guimaras and Negros. But it is just like a business-as-usual for the DPWH,” Drilon lamented during a Senate hearing on the agency’s proposed budget for 2021.
“The proposed PGN bridge is a dream of the people of Region 6 that remains to be fulfilled. We hope to make it happen during this administration,” he stressed.
The project will be built in two phases – 14.3-kilometer Panay-Guimaras link and 5.7-kilometer Guimaras-Negros link.
The Iloilo-Guimaras bridge will start in Leganes, Iloilo and will end in Buenavista, Guimaras while the Guimaras-Negros bridge will start and end in San Lorenzo, Guimaras and Pulupandan, Negros Occidental, respectively.
