The construction of the Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge has been pushed back a second time to 2025 an official of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said on Thursday. 

MANILA - The construction of the Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge has been pushed back a second time to 2025 an official of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said on Thursday.

Speaking at the Build Better More Infrastructure Forum in Tarlac, DPWH Undersecretary Maria Catarina Cabral said the delay was mainly due to funding issues concerning the agency’s biggest and most expensive project.

The more than 32-kilometer bridge was initially projected to begin in the latter part of 2023 but was postponed to early or mid-2024 as the DPWH was still finalizing financing arrangements with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The ADB approved funding of up to $2.1 billion in December 2023 but Cabral said the start of construction has now been moved to early or mid-2025.

“Sourcing the funding has been really a challenge because government, the Department of Finance specifically, is trying to get the best financing packages for this biggest project of DPWH. Finally, they were able to do so and last week we just held the bidding for the first contract package of this project,” said Cabral.

According to Cabral, the detailed engineering design for the bridge has already been completed. She said it’s possible that the construction may still begin this year, but she also cited several pre-construction works that need to be done first.

“(The) infrastructure is not going to be that easy because you’re crossing Manila Bay… Materials will come in from other parts of the country and then you will have to build piles across Manila Bay. So it’s really going to be very very challenging,” she said.

The bridge is expected to cut travel time between Cavite and Bataan to around 45 minutes from 5 hours at present.

“So you don’t have to pass Metro Manila if you’re coming from Bataan going to Cavite. It will help decongest Metro Manila,” added Cabral.

For motorists coming from Manila, travel time to Bataan is seen to be less than 2 hours from over 3 hours at present.

Once completed, it would become the longest bridge in the country, longer than the 8.9-kilometer Cebu-Cordova Bridge and the 2.1-kilometer San Juanico Bridge.