Negros-Panay bridges possible soon

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines - The proposed bridges that will connect Negros, Guimaras, and Panay Islands will take a long time to be finished but at least the first steps are being started now.

“It may be realized in this lifetime,” said Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. who is strongly pushing for the construction of this bridges, a project that is one of the agenda in the Regional Development Council (RDC) meeting slated on June 30 at the Capitol.

Marañon said he is asking the RDC to request the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for a project study of the construction of a bridge, preferably one that will connect Barangay Tomongtong of E.B. Magalona town in Negros Occidental and Banate town in Iloilo City.

Earlier reports said the 14.5-kilometer distance between E. B. Magalona and Banate town is the shortest distance between the Negros and Panay Islands, with more shallow waters on their shorelines thus it would need lesser budget.

Marañon said assuming there is already a budget for it, the bridges project would still take a long time to be completed, but Negrenses can still hope that it can happen within younger generation’s lifetime. He said that it would normally take five years for the project to take off, with three years of pre-feasibility study, then a technical study, and finally to construct it.

Meanwhile, the proposed bridge connecting Panay and Guimaras Islands has already been covered by a P4.8-billion fund under the Regional Development Investment Program for 2011-2016.

Based on present estimates by the Department of Public Works and Highways, the ambitious dream of building bridges to interconnect the islands of Panay, Guimaras and Negros would cost P53.9 billion.