ILOILO – Colleagues echoed the call of Ilonggo senator Franklin Drilon to fast track the construction of the 13-kilometer bridge linking Panay and Guimaras islands.
During the Senate Committee on Finance’s hearing on the budget of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) on Wednesday, Drilon criticized the delay in the construction of the Panay-Guimaras-Negros (PGN) Bridge with segments Panay-Guimaras Bridge (Phase 1) and Guimaras-Negros Bridge (Phase 2).
The PGN Bridge is among the “Build Build Build” projects of the administration but it remains on the drawing board months before President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration ends.
“To be honest, I am totally disappointed at the attention given to this project as evidenced by the timetable that you have just mentioned,” Drilon said.
NEDA told Drilon that the detailed engineering study may start in October 2022 and the construction may commence in 2025 and be finished by 2030.
“Nine years from now. I guess that is what we have to face. I just want NEDA and this government to be candid and tell this is what it is kaysa paasahin ang mga tao,” Drilon lamented.
“I have been following this up with you. Hindi ako nagkukulang. I cannot understand this inordinate delay. I can only point to the obvious lack of attention and support for this very important project,” he added.
According to Drilon, Western Visayans have been expecting the project as this would “improve their lives and open more economic opportunities.”
Senate Committee of Finance chairman, Sen. Sonny Angara, Sen. Pia Cayetano and Sen. Francis Tolentino backed Drilon.
“I join the call of Sen. Drilon in fast-tracking that bridge,” Tolentino said.
On his part, Angara believes the Panay-Guimaras Bridge should be a case study for public administration students on how to stretch out a project.
“Since 2016 pinag-uusapan na iyan. Every budget season pinag-uusapan at pina-follow-up assiduously by our minority leader and now we are told that it will be completed by 2030 – in a decade and a half,” Angara said.
“It is just a 10 to 13 kilometers bridge that is a geographical feature that has been with us for at least a century. I don’t know what has taken so long. You ought to look at your procedures,” Angara told NEDA secretary Karl Chua.
Chua committed to reviewing the timeline.
“I will meet with DOF (Department of Finance) and DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) to review the timeline,” Chua said.
On her part, Cayetano said: “I support that call. The call should this not be the case under the Karl Chua leadership.”
The PGN Bridge is divided into two sections: the 13-km Panay-Guimaras Bridge and the 19.47-km Guimaras-Negros Bridge.
Drilon said the bridge will improve inter-connectivity and provide safer and faster transportation of passengers and goods and services in Region 6.
Meanwhile, former Guimaras’ governor and congressman JC Rahman Nava and wife, incumbent Congresswoman Lucille Nava, commended the senators.
“We sincerely appreciate the concerns and efforts of our senators, especially Sen. Frank Drilon, for the realization of this dream,” said Nava.
He noted that Cong. Lucille had been following up on the project wherein the initial target date of implementation was 2020 after a financial commitment with China was signed in 2018.
China was supposed to fund the feasibility study which was eventually completed.
However, Nava said changes were noted after the feasibility study was done.
These might have contributed to the delay, he added.
Cong. Lucille, meanwhile, said the project is “highly graded/prioritized” by DPWH and NEDA among foreign assisted projects, with initial budget appropriated in 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Earlier, based on the chronology of updates obtained by Panay News from NEDA in Region 6, secretariat of the Regional Development Council (RDC)-6, the construction of the Panay-Guimaras segment will go first and may last up to the second quarter of 2030.
The tentative timeline for the Detailed Engineering Design (DED), meantime, was target to be completed from the fourth quarter of 2022 up to the fourth quarter of 2023.
These updates were shared by DPWH on June 3, 2021 during the 2021 Infrastructure Development Committee (IDC) 2nd Quarter Meeting.
On July 13, the DPWH-Unified Project Management Office and Technical Services (UPMO) disclosed that there’s an ongoing process for loan negotiation with the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) for the funding of the DED.
The Korea Eximbank is the official export credit agency of South Korea./PN
