Mayor Lucilo Bayron said he is confident that the ambitious Puerto Princesa Bay Bridge project that will connect the city center to the southern portion through a viaduct will be realized during his current term.
Initially estimated to cost P13 billion, Mayor Bayron said during his State of the City Address (SOCA) on Tuesday that the project already has a P1.2 billion appropriated budget this year for detailed engineering.
“Noon pong unang binabanggit ko ‘yan na isa [‘yan] sa mga pangarap ko, maraming napapangiti at napapatawa,” said Bayron.
“Sabi [nila], ‘Hindi naman kayang ipagawa ‘yan, viaduct. Ano ka sinusuwerte?’ Pero dahil nangarap tayo, ngayon magkakaroon ng katuparan ‘yong ating viaduct,” he added.
Crossing the Puerto Princesa Bay, the bridge will span 4.7 kilometers connecting City Baywalk in Barangay Mandaragat to Abanico in Brgy. San Pedro to Sandiwa near the City Hall in Brgy. Tiniguiban, with another interchange in Brgy. Sicsican.
He said this is one of the big-ticket projects of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration under his Build Build Build program.
Bayron said complementing this viaduct is the planned construction of a “coastal road” from Quito District to Brgy. Sta Lourdes. This separate project, he said, is still in its conceptualization stage.
