ILOILO City – The construction of the P189.53-billion Panay-Guimaras-Negros (PGN) Island Bridges Project will start in 2025.
According to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Western Visayas, the construction will proceed once the detailed engineering design (DED) is completed on schedule and approved for funding and implementation by the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) and the NEDA Board.
As the project’s implementing agency, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) started the bidding process for the DED with the submission and receipt of proposals scheduled this February and the Notice to Proceed in May.
The duration of DED preparation is 18 months starting January this year.
Once finalized, the proposal which includes the DED, feasibility study and other documents will be presented to the ICC and NEDA Board for review and approval.
NEDA-6 noted that the project received all the required endorsements of the provincial, municipal and city councils of all affected areas.
Consequently, the Regional Development Council 6 passed Resolution No. 33 -2022, endorsing the funding and implementation of the project during its 2022 3rd Quarter Full Council Meeting last Oct. 13, 2022 in Bacolod City.
The mega bridge – one of the priority projects under the Build, Build, Build Program of then President Rodrigo R. Duterte – is targeted to be completed by 2030.
The PGN has two components. These are the following:
* 13-kilometer Panay-Guimaras bridge, or Section A
* 19.47-kilometer Guimaras-Negros bridge, or Section B
The Panay-Guimaras bridge will have a sea-crossing bridge length of 4.97 kilometers while the Guimaras-Negros bridge has 13.11 kilometers of sea-crossing bridge length./PN
