THE KOREA-funded Panguil Bay Bridge project in Northern Mindanao is 63% done and is on track for opening within the first half of 2024, according to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
“By working round-the-clock and further improve the formulated measures to catch up the delays brought by previous suspension of activities due to COVID-19 pandemic… we will be able to finish the project toward the goal of having first traffic cross the bridge by first half of 2024,” DPWH Senior Undersecretary Emil K. Sadain said in a statement on Friday.
Mr. Sadain reported that bored piling works on the seabed for the 32 pylons that will support the 3.17-kilometer bridge are all completed.
The machinery for bridge construction “are in full gear working forward to the main bridge pylons 1 and 2,” he said.
The Panguil Bay Bridge, which will become the longest in the Philippines, connects Tangub City in Misamis Occidental and Tubod, the capital town of Lanao del Norte.
It will cut travel time between the localities to seven minutes from the current average two hours by land or via roll-on, roll-off sea vessel.
The P7.37-billion bridge is funded under a loan deal between the Philippine government and the Korean Export-Import Bank.