ORIENTATION. Executives of the National Economic Development Authority-Western Visayas led by Regional Director Ro-Ann Bacal (3rd from left) during the open forum of the NEDA and Regional Development Council Briefings for newly elected officials in Negros Occidental held at Capitol Social Hall in Bacolod City on Thursday (August 8, 2019). The feasibility study for the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island Bridges Project is in the final stage of completion and scheduled for presentation by the end of the year, NEDA said. (PNA photo by Nanette L. Guadalquiver)
BACOLOD CITY -- The feasibility study for the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island Bridges Project is in the final stage of completion and scheduled for presentation by the end of the year, an official of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) said.
NEDA-Western Visayas Regional Director Ro-Ann Bacal said on Thursday that the development was relayed to their agency by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
“Secretary (Mark) Villar has already informed us that the feasibility study is in its final stages. It will be ready by the end of this year. After that, they (DPWH) are going to look into the details, particularly the technicalities,” Bacal said in an interview here.
It will then be presented to the Department of Finance for the discussion on the financing aspect, she added.
“It is a huge project, it is a very critical project. We had to bring in specialists for the technical studies,” said Bacal, who was here for the NEDA and Regional Development Council briefings for newly-elected officials in Negros Occidental.
The CCC Highway Consultants Co., Ltd. of the People’s Republic of China is conducting the feasibility study, which began in November 2018.
The project profile showed the two proposed bridges are the 4.8-kilometer Panay-Guimaras Bridge, which will start in Leganes, Iloilo and will end in Buenavista, Guimaras; and the 12.5-kilometer Guimaras-Negros Island Bridge, which will start and end in San Lorenzo, Guimaras and Pulupandan, Negros Occidental.
Once completed, the inter-island linkages between Panay, Guimaras, and Negros will provide an efficient thoroughfare system in Western Visayas, and the transportation of goods and services to and from these islands will be faster, easier and convenient, it added.
Last June, the Provincial Development Council (PDC) of Negros Occidental endorsed the conduct of the feasibility study during its second-quarter meeting held in this city.
The PDC, however, recommended that the study also consider other areas aside from the municipality of Pulupandan as routes of the bridges project, such as the cities of Bago and Victorias, and the municipalities of E.B. Magalona and Valladolid. (PNA)
