The Manila Times

Bataan-Cavite bridge project launched

CATHERINE VALENTE AND DENNIS ABRINA

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has promised to ensure the completion of the bridge linking Bataan and Cavite on time, expressing confidence that the project would help decongest traffic in Metro Manila and open new opportunities in the region.

In his speech during the milestone ceremony of the Bataan–Cavite Interlink Bridge (BCIB) in Mariveles, Bataan on Friday, Marcos said he expects that the key infrastructure project would start construction by October this year.

“Let me call once again on the officials and the employees of the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) as well as all the consultants to remain committed to finishing this project on schedule,” Marcos said.

“Do your best to ensure that civil works for this bridge will commence by October this year. Do your best also to deliver what we have proposed so that our people and their localities will live out the picture we have painted as our goals as soon as possible,” he added.

Marcos said the planned construction of the P175.6-billion project will cut the Central Luzon–Calabarzon travel time from five hours to just 45 minutes.

“With the BCIB, it is projected that that five hours trip will now become as close — as quick as 30 minutes, reducing by as much as 86 percent, and we are reducing it to maybe 45 minutes of travel,” the President said.

“That will be an incredible feat when it happens and would significantly help in decongesting Metro Manila as motorists will be able to travel without passing through the metropolis,” he added.

Once completed, the President said the project will also help in bringing prices down for goods and services as the transport and logistics costs will decrease, thereby generating immense savings all around.

“And facing the challenges, it was prescient that we continued with this project until we got to this point and I am sure until it is finished. It is prescient because at the time we did not think of supply chain problems that we have. And this kind of improved connectivity is the perfect solution to that,” he said.

Marcos said new opportunities will likewise be opened to Bataan and Cavite and their surrounding provinces because of the easier access that will be made available.

The bridge’s construction, he said, will also support the development of seaports in the two provinces, making them potential international shipping gateways of the country.

“As we are gathered to celebrate the progress of another massive infrastructure project in the works, I wish to first bring our attention on the following: Every peso our predecessors have shelled out and every peso that we will continue to spend to construct public roads and infrastructure are investments meant for many generations,” Marcos said.

“There are two sides to that statement. And that when you talk about infrastructure, it takes the planning from the very beginning — from planning, from detail, the engineering, feasibility studies, et cetera, et cetera, it takes maybe about 10, 12 years for you to do all of that if you do it well,” he added.

The 32–kilometer Bataan–Cavite Interlink Bridge Project is a cable–stayed bridge that will be built over Manila Bay. It will start in Barangay Alas-asin in Mariveles, Bataan and ends in Barangay Timalan Concepcion in Naic, Cavite. It will be one of the longest bridges in the nation and the world.

The bridge project will be divided into seven contract packages to accelerate completion.

According to Cavite City Mayor Denver Chua, once the project is finished, it will boost the economy of Cavite and the tourism in Corregidor as the said project has entry and exit points to the historic island of Corregidor which is part of Cavite City.

Also present on the program are Cavite Eighth District Rep. Aniela Tolentino and Naic, Cavite Vice Mayor Junio Dualan.

Primarily funded through Official Development Assistance loans from the Asian Development Bank, with co-financing from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, BCIB’s construction is expected to last for 60 months and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2028.

“Let me also of course express our continuing gratitude to the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank for committing to finance the BCIB project from its inception to its construction in the foreseeable future,” Marcos said.

“For many years, you have played an active part in the development of my country, not only economically but even in the social sector. And you have advanced our infrastructure systems, and it is always exciting to see that these partnerships can produce such fruit after as long as we are cooperating together,” he added.

Regions

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2023-04-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-04-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://manilatimes.pressreader.com/article/281724093813948

The Manila Times