“It is not good to cross the bridge before you get to it.” –Judi Dench

It’s a white lie.
I have serious misgivings Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark Villar “confirmed” the construction of the much-ballyhooed Panay-Guimaras-Negros bridge, sometimes called the Western Visayas Bridge, will “start under the Duterte administration.”
If he really said this, then he is a phony.
He was probably just taking Buenavista (Guimaras) Mayor Eugene Reyes, whom he made the claim to, for a ride. Without the latest feasibility study, how can the project begin? Putting the cart ahead of the horse?
To add to the confusion, National Economic and Development Authority-Region VI (NEDA-6) Director Ro-Ann Bacal reportedly called the construction “among the priority projects of the DPWH.”
In fact, Madame Director, the bridge is NOT among the priority projects. There is no construction on the radar for this year, and in 2018 – it’s in dreamland.

Budget
When Villar lobbied for the DPWH P458.61 billion budget for 2017 in August of last year, the Western Visayas Bridge was not listed as part of the “most ambitious infrastructure program,” as the DPWH secretary enumerated.
In fact, the DPWH priority projects are comprised of the Taal Lake Circumferential Road in San Nicolas-Sta Teresita, Alitagtag, Batangas; Gurel-Bukod-Kabayan-Buguias Road, which leads to Mt. Pulag, Bulalacao Lakes, Kabayan Mummies, in Bokod, Kabayan, and Buguias, Benguet; the Cagaray Circumferential Road, Bacacay, Albay, which leads to Misibis Resort; Tatay-El Nido Road, Palawan; Junction Tagbilaran East Road, TER, Guindulman-Anda-Badiang Cogtong-Road, leading to beaches and resorts, Anda, Bohol; Borongan, Llorente Closed Canopy Forest Area, Maydolong, Eastern Samar; Island Garden City of Samal Circumferential Road, Davao del Norte; NAIA Expressway;
Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway; NLEX Harbor Link, Segment 10; Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3; Plaridel By-Pass Road Phase II; NLEX Harbor Link, Segment 8.2; Central Luzon Link Expressway Phase I (Tarlac-Cabanatuan); Cavite-Laguna Expressway; SLEX TR4, Sto. Tomas-Lucena; C6 Phase I, Southeast Metro Manila Expressway; NLEX-SLEX Connector Road; Candon City By-Pass Road, Ilocos Sur; Laoag City By-Pass Road, Ilocos Norte; Plaridel By-Pass Road Phase II; Carcar By-Pass Road, Carcar City, Cebu; Palo West By-Pass Road, Palo, Leyte; Tacloban City By-Pass Road, Leyte; Cotabato City East Diversion Road; Alae By-Pass Road; and Davao City By-Pass Construction Project, Mindanao.
There is no Panay-Guimaras-Negros bridge, which would have cost around 30 percent of the DPWH budget.

Lobby
The inter-island bridge project, conceptualized during the Fidel V. Ramos administration, does not yet have a detailed budget, despite the Regional Development Council (RDC) and almost all congressmen and women lobbying for it.
There’s also a misconception that China, which maintains a shaky relationship with the Philippines, will fund the project – up to an estimated P65 million. However, what Chinese Commerce Vice Minister Fu Ziying and Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Carlos Dominguez agreed to in their March 18, 2017 meeting was China to fund the feasibility study – a feasibility study does not commence the construction of any project.
Last year, during the Aquino administration, the government sought the help of South Korea to fund the project’s feasibility study, as revealed by Senator Franklin Drilon, to no avail.

Caution
Experts have cautioned the government regarding the risks of such a project, with Nicanor Roxas, Jr., who drafted the cost overruns and the proposed Panay-Guimaras-Negros Inter-Island Bridge project, confirmed separate studies of the project by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and DPWH produced varied results.
The costs reportedly range from P53 billion in 1999, P28.5 billion in 2010, and P54 billion in 2011.
“This reflects the uncertainties in cost estimation for this kind of project,” he warned. “There is still no guarantee that costs will not change.”

Experience
“The Philippines does not have any experience in constructing a project of such magnitude,” Roxas added. “We have no formula for success – just like most of the other failed projects completed in the past.”
He noted, it is easier to enumerate the number failed projects in the Philippines than successful one.
This megaproject does not look promising. It is clear the effects of megaproject provisions are extensive. If the megaproject construction fails, which is very likely, other sectors will be adversely affected./WDJ