Chinese firm officials arrive to study Iloilo-Guimaras bridge project

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Officials of a state-owned company in China is now in Iloilo City to conduct a study on the proposed Iloilo-Guimaras bridge.

A big group of Chinese from the CCCC Highway Consultants, Co. Ltd., together with officials from Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) visited the provincial capitol on Wednesday morning, September 6, to make a courtesy call at the Governor's office.

They are in Iloilo to make plans for the construction, including the conduct of pre-feasibility study, of Iloilo-Guimaras link bridge.

CCC Highway Consultants is a prestigious company that has built hundreds of major bridges and highways in China and in other parts of Asia, among which the recently completed 29.6-kilometer Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao link project and the 36-kilometer Hangzhou Bay Bridge.

DPWH Secretary Mark Villar said last week that technical studies to be conducted had to be thorough considering that it will be a 19-kilometer bridge (including the Guimaras-Bacolod link) and one of the largest projects in the country.

Provincial Administrator Raul Banias welcomes officals of CCC Highway Consultants and DPWH who will conduct pre-feasibility study of Iloilo-Guimaras Bridge. Photo by PA Raul Banias.

Villar noted the longest bridge in the country today is only two kilometers long. He is hoping they could finish the studies and plans and submit them to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) by 2018 for approval.

“Maybe, hopefully, by next year, we could procure the project and we could start by last quarter of next year,” he said.




Meanwhile, Villar said that funding for the project will possibly be through the Official Development Assistance (ODA). He said that they are waiting for the Department of Finance (DOF) for the funding plan.

National Economic Development Authority Region 6 said that the budget needed for the bridge is at PHP27 billion. [With reports from PNA, Capitol News]

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