PHL, China sign deal for construction of 2 Pasig River bridges

The governments of the Philippines and China officially signed an agreement for the construction of two bridges spanning the Pasig River, which will be funded by a Chinese-pledge grant made during President Rodrigo Duterte's state visit in Beijing last year.

In a statement on Thursday, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said that Secretary Mark Villar and Embassy of China in the Philippines Economic and Commercial Counselor Jin Yuan signed the minutes of discussion (MOD) for the full grant on June 21 in Manila.

The two bridges covered by the grant are the Binondo-Intramuros Bridge in Manila and the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge connecting the cities of Mandaluyong and Makati.

The grant will cover the design and construction of the bridges while DPWH will be responsible for the acquisition of its road right-of-way, according to Villar.

The total amount of grant is not yet finalized as it is still subject to the finality of engineering design, the DPWH said.

The Department of Finance earlier reported that China will grant the Philippines $75 million or around P3.6-billion for the construction of the two bridges across the Pasig River.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno earlier said the construction of the two bridges might start in the third quarter.

"Based on the initial project design, Binondo-Intramuros Bridge will be constructed into a four-lane, steel bowstring arch bridge with inclined arches that will connect Intramuros side at Solana Street and Riverside Drive and Binondo side at San Fernando Street with a viaduct. It will have a total length of 807 meters, composed of 90-meter main bridge, 488-meter Binondo approach, and 193-meter upramp and 166-meter downramp Intramuros Approaches," Villar said.

"The Estrella-Pantelon Bridge will also have four lanes, but will be a 560-meter Twin Spine steel box girder bridge with concrete deck slab. It will utilize the existing approaches at Makati City and Mandaluyong City sides, with modification on abutment and pier to accommodate new bridge superstructure," he added.

The construction of Binondo-Intramuros and Estrella-Pantelon Bridges will be implemented by the DPWH Unified Project Management Office-Roads Management Cluster I, the Department said. — BM, GMA News