Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge Project Now Halfway Complete

The Duterte administration's highlighted accomplishment for the country's economic growth had been its Build, Build, Build (BBB) programs comprising ambitious infrastructure projects, and the outgoing Marcos regime seems intent to adopt a 'continuity' approach whereby unfinished infrastructure programs are to resume until completion within the next six years.

One of the infrastructure projects inaugurated during the Duterte administration is the Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge, which began construction in November 2020. Fast forward to 2022 as of September, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) through Senior Undersecretary Emil K. Sadain declared a 55 percent completion rate, a 21 percent acceleration from 34 percent in March of the same year.

In an official statement, the DPWH boasted that the 32-kilometer-long inter-island BBB program will connect provinces from Central Luzon and the Southern Tagalog region, hence the respective inclusions of Bataan and Cavite in the official name of the massive interlink bridge project.

It is said to cut travel time between distant regional provinces such as Bataan and Cavite from a tedious five-hour trip time to just 30 minutes, or even less.

In addition, reports stated that the engineering design works for the infrastructure program will cost P3.01 billion, excluding the costs for the civil works. The Asian Development Bank was set to become a major financer which, in December 2019, approved 200 million USD for the innovation facility and infrastructure preparation.

The Interlink Bridge project in retrospect

While the commencement of construction was just two years ago, the original proposal dates as far as 1987 under the Cory Aquino administration, which is credited to then-Representative Felicito Payumo who proposed the massive bridge project, and initially named it the Trans Manila Bay Crossing.

Payumo was then the chairperson of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA). He persisted in making the bridge-tunnel system a realization in the early 2000s. Reports stated that there were two Japanese firms, namely Itochu Corp. and NKK Corp., which scrutinized its workability and presented feasibility studies for the bridge-tunnel project to the SBMA, but the success and realization of the massive infra project remained elusive since.

Meanwhile, in 2016, Payumo re-attempted the project proposal, saying that the Manila Bay bridge will be instrumental to the easing of traffic congestion in Metro Manila and will further boost the Philippine economy. Payumo then made a comparison with the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line in Japan, confiding that residents and commuters in Cavite and nearby South Luzon provinces will not need to pass through the capital region to reach Central Luzon provinces should the proposed bridge will be constructed and finished in due time.

Finally, China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) conducted another feasibility study as a preliminary 'investigation' for the possible construction of the massive bridge in 2017. The inspection was made onsite and started in the coastal towns in Bataan, particularly in the town of Mariveles.

The long-overdue realization

In early 2020, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the Philippines' primary socioeconomic planning body, authorized the bridge project with a whopping budget of P175.7 billion. The implementation of the bridge project is initially gauged to be completed within six years, or until the year 2026.

In October 2020, the DPWH officially signed the detailed engineering design contract with a budget of 59 million USD, with the joint venture of T. Y. Lin International from the United States and Korea's Pyunghwa Engineering Consultants Ltd., who are cooperatively working with Switzerland-based Renardet S.A. and Philippines' DCCD Engineering Corporation.

Project specifications

The 32-kilometer (19.98 mi) Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge is a four-lane, cable-stayed bridge that will cross over Manila Bay and will serve to connect the first-class municipalities of Mariveles in Bataan and Naic in Cavite.

The bridge will comprise two main navigation bridges on both sides of Corregidor Island, namely the North Channel Bridge with a 400-meter main span, and the South Channel Bridge with a 900-meter main span. The starting point is in Barangay Alas-asin near the Mariveles Freeport Area, and will culminate in Barangay Timalan Balsahan in Naic town.

'Build, Better, More'

Outgoing President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is very open about his admiration for the previous administration, specifically its infrastructure programs, so much so that he expressed intent to preserve the last regime's legacy especially its Build, Build, Build programs, now aptly called 'Build, Better, More' or BBM, which was, and still is, President Marcos Jr.'s famous moniker among his avid supporters during and even after the presidential campaign.

Below is a list of massive road projects to be continued by the present Marcos administration, according to the Philippine News Agency, the web-based newswire service of the national government.

• Central Luzon Link Expressway, (Phase 1)
• Arterial Road Bypass Project (Phase 3)
• NLEX-SLEX Connector Road
• Manila Cavite Toll Expressway Project
• C-5 South Link Expressway
• Southeast Metro Manila Expressway (Phase I)
• Cavite-Laguna Expressway
• Camarines Sur Expressway
• Metro Cebu Expressway
• Davao City Coastal Road
• Davao City Bypass Road Construction Project

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