LATERAL CONNECTION. The proposed Panay-Guimaras-Negros Bridge marks the start of the lateral connection between Visayan regions. National Economic and Development Authority regional director Arecio Casing Jr., in an interview on Friday (June 21, 2024), said there will already be four Visayan regions, with the creation of the Negros Island Region, helping each other to boost their growth. (DPWH file photo)
ILOILO CITY – With the creation of Negros Island Region (NIR), the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is optimistic that faster economic growth of the entire Visayas region will take place sooner.
National Economic and Development Authority regional director Arecio Casing Jr. said Friday that the Regional Development Committee -Visayas Area Committee (originally composed of Western, Eastern, and Central) aims to connect regions laterally, an east-west connection linking Samar, Leyte, Bohol, Cebu, Negros and Panay.
“If we have north and south, up and down connectivity between Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, we also want to connect laterally. We want to transport people, products, and services between the Visayan regions. So we have Boracay at the other end and Samar at the other end,” Casing said in an interview.
The regional director said that they are now starting with the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Bridge. And there is also a proponent that is willing to connect Negros to Cebu, Cebu-Bohol, and Bohol-Leyte.
In a previous interview, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Engr. Sanny Boy Oropel said the feasibility study for the design and the detailed engineering of the PHP187.54 billion mega Panay-Guimaras-Negros bridges just started.
Spanning 32.47 kilometers, the project has two sections consisting of Section A or the Panay to Guimaras section, with a length of 13 kilometers, and Section B from Guimaras to Negros, with a length of 19.47 kilometers.
The detailed engineering design of section A (Panay to Guimaras) will be completed within the year for the civil work to start in the second semester of 2025. It is expected to be finished by the end of the term of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on June 30, 2028.
The section B (Guimaras to Negros) is eyed for completion in 2030.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed into law Republic Act (RA) 12000, or the NIR Act, in Malacañan Palace on June 13.
The implementing rules and regulations are being crafted by a technical working group composed of representatives from the Departments of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Budget and Management (DBM), and NEDA.
In a separate interview, Governor Arthur Defensor said Iloilo is happy with the creation of NIR, which he said was a pet project of the Visayan bloc since he was still in Congress.
“The creation of that administrative region is for better governance and better delivery of public services in terms of administrative capability in the bureaucracy. But our ties with Negros will not change; they will remain to be our relatives. Commerce will remain the same," he said. (PNA)
