"Friendship Bridges" financing discussed

Talks for financing the construction of the "Friendship Bridges," or bridges connecting Cebu, Bohol and Negros Oriental provinces has started, said Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado, former head of the Regional Development Council, during RDC's meeting in Tagbilaran City over the weekend. RDC is now negotiating for funds with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation to finance the construction of the bridges and that a feasibility study for the project has been undertaken, he said. Aumentado however did not divulge the cost of the project and when it would be constructed but he said the RDC, during his term as its chairman last year, already approved the project. "This is a matter of regional cooperation for faster economic growth," Aumentado said of the project, which he said could spur faster economic growth and activities around the three island-provinces of Central Visayas. With bridges connecting the three island-provinces, Aumentado said trade and commerce would be accelerated. "Travel time from one island to another would just take around 30 to 40 minutes," he said. Aumentado said a bridge would be constructed from Cordova island of Cebu to Getafe in Bohol, and between these points the actual bridge would be about one kilometer long across the Olango channel. The many islands between Getafe and Olango would be connected through viaducts, he said. Another bridge, about seven kilometers long including a viaduct, would be constructed between Santander town in Cebu and the nearest town across Negros Oriental, he said. Aumentado said the firm, Pacific Consultants International, is conducting the feasibility study of the project without cost to the RDC. The PCI is doing it for free enabling the RDC to save at least P50 million for such works. Previoulsy, there were already reports that no government agency had taken seriously the idea of the project, the reason why the construction of the Cebu-Negros Oriental bridge failed to take off then. But Aumentado was optimistic that the project will materialize, with the joint efforts of the RDC and local officials of the three island-provinces,