Ilonggo Senator Franklin Drilon said San Miguel Corporation (SMC) is “interested” in funding the construction of a bridge that will connnect Iloilo and the island province of Guimaras.
Drilon and SMC president Ramon S. Ang were in Iloilo last week for the groundbreaking of a multibillion-peso project.
“Gin-explain ko ang taytay kay Mr. Ang and nangin interesado sya,” the senator said.
The proposed bridge will span about 4.8 kilometers from Buenavista, Guimaras to Leganes, Iloilo.
Leganes is the location of the P6.7-billion new beer plant of San Miguel Brewery Inc., a subsidiary of SMC.
Drilon said there’s a big possibility that SMC will submit its “unsolicited proposal” to undertake to building of the bridge.
The 19.2-kilometer Panay-Guimaras-Negros Link Bridge is currently undergoing a feasibility study funded by China.
The feasibility study is expected to be completed early next year.
The project is among the priority projects under the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program.
Last month, Build, Build, Build Committee Chairperson Anna Mae Lamentillo explained why the actual construction of the “long-overdue” bridge has not yet been started.
“May requirements po kasi. For an inter-island bridge for example, may required na pre-feasibility study, feasibility study and detailed engineering design,” she said.
“Because of the magnitude of this project, our longest bridge is about two kilometers which is times 10 of what we want to achieve for Panay-Guimaras-Negros. So we’re really very careful as to yung construction and yung design for this particular project,” Lamentillo added.IMT
