China to Fund Two Bridge Projects in Metro Manila

The People's Republic of China has signed an agreement with the Philippine government which will see the former design and finance the construction of two bridge projects within Metro Manila.

The Minutes of Discussion for the projects was signed last June 21, 2017 at the Department of Public Works and Highways Head Office in Port Area, Manila by department Secretary Mark Villar and the Embassy of China in the Philippines Economic and Commercial Counselor Jin Yuan. Under the signed agreement, the Chinese government will design and fund the bridges' construction while the DPWH will be responsible for the right-of-way road acquisitions. In preparation for the two bridge projects' construction, a project team from China has supposedly been dispatched to assist the DPWH "with recommendations and technical assistance for the stages of project preparation, initiation, and implementation." The Binondo-Intramuros Bridge will be a four-lane, steel bowstring-arch bridge with inclined arches that will connect the Intramuros side at Solana Street and Riverside Drive and the Binondo side at San Fernando Street with a viaduct. It will have a total length of 807 meters, composed of a 90-meter main bridge, 488-meter Binondo approach, and 193-meter upramp and 166-meter downramp Intramuros Approaches. The Estrella-Pantelon Bridge will also have four lanes, but will be a 560-meter twin spine steel box girder bridge with a concrete deck slab. It will utilize the existing approaches on the Makati City and Mandaluyong City sides, with modifications on the abutment and pier to accommodate the new bridge superstructure. Tasked to oversee the construction of the Binondo-Intramuros and Estrella-Pantelon bridges will be the DPWH Unified Project Management Office-Roads Management Cluster I.