The Department of Public Works and Highways announced Tuesday it will start construction later this year of a P175-billion bridge connecting Cavite and Bataan.

“We told the President it will be ready within the year to break ground,” DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan said in a Malacañang briefing.

The project will consist of a two-channel, four-lane bridge linking Naic, Cavite with Mariveles, Bataan. It will feature two cable-stayed structures measuring 400 and 900 meters.

When finished, travel time between the two provinces is expected to be reduced to less than two hours from the present over three hours.

The DPWH last September said the drive on the 32-kilometer bridge spanning Manila Bay would take 20 to 30 minutes.

“With this bridge, you would have more direct access to these two growth areas. Significantly, it will improve economic development not only in Luzon but also for the entire country,” Bonoan said.

Initial detail works on the project are 70 percent complete, according to Bonoan, with groundbreaking expected later in the year. He said the DPWH is in the middle of right-of-way acquisitions for the project.

Bonoan said the DPWH will try to complete the project before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s term ends in 2028.

“The growth corridor is in the southern part of Metro Manila and the other growth corridor is in the north of Manila. With this bridge, I think we will have better access between these two,” Bonoan said.

Citing input from the Asian Development Bank, the DPWH chief trumpeted the bridge’s economic rate of return at “more than 25 percent.” He said the bridge will “substantially” boost economic activities in Luzon.

The DPWH said it has 70,000 projects it intends to start in 2023, with a total budget of P890 billion.

CTBEX pushing through

Meanwhile, Bonoan told reporters that construction of the P25.24-billion Cavite-Tagaytay-Batangas Expressway proposed by Metro Pacific Tollways South will push through.

“I don’t think there will be a conflict in alignment with the Cavite-Batangas Expressway proposed by (San Miguel Holdings Inc.),” he said.

“The two projects will push through, but we must iron out some pending issues so that both of them can start. Let’s see how we can interconnect the two,” the DPWH chief added.

In 2018, the DPWH granted Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. initial proponent status for the CTBEX project.

The 50.43-kilometer roadway will link the provinces of Cavite and Batangas. It will also have spur roads leading to Tuy, Batangas, and Tagaytay City.

The Cavite-Laguna Expressway’s Silang East Interchange will be the starting point for CTBEX, which is anticipated to decongest nearby thoroughfares by roughly 23,000 vehicles per day.

The alignment is intended to pass through the municipalities of Nasugbu in Batangas; Silang, Amadeo, Mendez, Alfonso in Cavite, and Tagaytay City.