The construction of the P189.53 billion Panay-Guimaras-Negros (PGN) Island Bridges Project will start in 2025, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in Western Visayas announced on Thursday, February 23.
The construction will start in 2025 once the Detailed Engineering Design (DED) is completed on schedule and approved for funding and implementation by the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) and the NEDA Board, it said in a post on its website.
The project received all the required local endorsements of the provincial, municipal, and city councils of all affected areas, it said.
The Regional Development Council VI then passed Resolution No. 33, series of 2022, endorsing the funding and implementation of the project during its CY 2022 Third Quarter RDC VI full council meeting on October 13 in Bacolod City, the NEDA said.
As the project’s implementing agency, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) started the bidding process for its DED with the submission and receipt of proposals scheduled on February 2023 and the Notice to Proceed on May 2023.
The duration of DED preparation is 18 months, the NEDA said.
The proposed PGN Island Bridges Project covers an entire route of 32.47 kilometers (km), composed of two sections: Section A (13 km Panay-Guimaras) and Section B (19.47 km Guimaras-Negros), the NEDA added.*