Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge construction start moved to 2025
Back in 2020, the Philippine government announced that the construction of a mega bridge that will connect the provinces of Bataan and Cavite over Manila Bay was approved for construction, with a projected budget cost of PHP 187 billion – one of the most expensive construction projects that the government will undertake.
The project will be financed with loans from Asia Development Bank’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) program.
Three years later in 2023, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said that the project’s construction would commence later that year. In April of the same year, DPWH pushed the construction start date to the “first semester of 2024” – it never happened.
Now, the DPWH has again pushed the construction start date of the Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge to 2025.
DPWH Undersecretary, Maria Catalina Cabral, said that the delay was caused by the government taking its time in finding the best possible loan options to fund the project.
“Sourcing the funding has been really the problem. We’re trying to get the best financing package for this biggest project of the DPWH and finally, we are able to do so. I think last week we just held the bidding for the first contract packages,” said Cabral.
The Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge is a 32-kilometer, 2x2 lane bridge that, once completed, will cut travel time from Bataan to Cavite and vice versa to just five hours to just 40 minutes or less. The bridge also features a viaduct that would make it easier for tourists to visit the historic Corregidor Island.
