Business: Panay-Guimaras-Negros Bridge Readies for Japanese

The P28.5 billion Panay-Guimaras-Negros (PGN) Bridge Project, according to Bacolod-based businessman-contractor Vladimir Gonzalez yesterday, is now at the

preparation stage for funding request from the Government of Japan and that the process has already started

Gonzalez, who was designated PGN-LGU Coordinator of the PGN Bridge Project said in a statement to Negros Daily Bulletin (NDB) that the preparation for the Japanese Government funding request is a direct offshoot of House Resolution 2018 principally authored by Iloilo City Representative Jerry Trenas and signed by 19 Congressmen of Panay, Guimaras, and Negros Island (Occidental and Oriental).

Some three weeks ago, NDB reported that Iloilo City Representative Treñas, called on President Benigno Aquino III, the Public Private Partnership Center, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) to prioritize the construction of the bridges connecting Panay, Guimaras and Negros.

　Representative Treñas, Gonzalez reported, recently met with Isoji Matsui, Team Leader and Advisor, of the consulting engineering firm, KGC Ltd., Japan; this Japanese consulting engineering firm conducted the preliminary study of the PGN Bridge Project since 2008.

Matsui together Gonzales and PGN Regional Planner Lito de Dios, informed Treñas that last April 2011, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Rogelio L. Singson had already requested the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) for a concurrent endorsement of a Technical Assistance (TA) to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) through the Embassy of Japan (EOJ) to conduct a full-blown feasibility study of the PGN Bridge Project.

NEDA Deputy Director General Rolando S. Tungpalan, on the other hand, informed Singson to coordinate directly with the Embassy of Japan to discuss the guidelines of requests submitted to the METI, specifically on partnership with a Japanese firm that could request a technical assistance for the PGN Bridge Project.

In a related development, Treñas explained, Matsui arrived in Manila to assist DPWH in coordinating project preparation following the procedures of DPWH and the METI.

Treñas further informed that based on Japan’s procedures for its Official Development Assistance (ODA), the objective of conducting feasibility study for funding by a Japanese government agency such as METI is a parallel confirmation of a project’s feasibility apt for possible financing by the Japan’s International Cooperation Agency (JICA).*