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[av_heading heading=’ ON INTERISLAND BRIDGES
Chinese ‘technical people’ visit Leganes, Guimaras ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO City – A delegation of Chinese “technical people” visited Buenavista, Guimaras and Leganes, Iloilo in connection with the proposed bridges that will link Iloilo to Guimaras, Negros and Cebu islands.
Rep. Arcadio Gorriceta (2nd District, Iloilo) disclosed this during the inauguration of two infrastructure projects in Leganes on Thursday.
“Gin tan-aw nila ang situation sa Leganes kay ma-entra sila sa PPP (public-private partnership),” Gorriceta said.
The congressman launched the P13-million two-storey, six-classroom senior high school building of Leganes National High School and the P5-million Saad Viewing Deck.
Gorriceta revealed the Chinese first visited Buenavista, Guimaras on Wednesday and then headed to Barangay Bigke, Leganes, Iloilo on Thursday.
The Leganes village is being considered as “gateway” for the Iloilo-Guimaras bridge, the first phase of the project.
The second phase involves the bridge connecting Guimaras and Negros Occidental, while the third phase will be the one linking Negros Oriental to Cebu.
The government is bent on completing the project before the term of President Rodrigo Duterte ends.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) aims to start the project in 2017.
“Once this is realized, Leganes will be the jump-off point to other regions in the Visayas. We’re excited,” said Gorriceta.
No less than DPWH secretary Mark Villar is pushing for the project, too.
“Sa nakikita ko, magandang project ang bridge,” Villar previously told Panay News. He hopes to hold a bidding next year.
Villar said he is “fairly confident” the bridges will be completed before 2022.
Earlier Iloilo governor Arthur Defensor Sr. also said the bridges will be beneficial to the growth and progress of Panay Island in general.
In January this year Ilonggo senator Franklin Drilon said there will be a feasibility study for a 2.6-kilometer Iloilo-Guimaras bridge to be funded by the South Korean government.
Drilon said the project has an estimated cost of $70 million, or P3.5 billion.
“It is just a question [of] whether or not the cost-benefit ratio will define the investment of public funds. And I am confident that it will,” he said. “But we have to study it. We do not want to get into projects not beneficial to us.”/PN
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