The Philippines has obtained a $56.6 million loan from the Export-Import Bank of Korea-Economic Development and Cooperation Fund (KEXIM-EDCF) for the 32.47km Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island bridge, the Philippines’ Ministry of Finance announced yesterday (4 May 2022).

The P187.5 billion ($3.58 billion) interisland bridge project consists of 2 sea-crossing 4-lane bridges connecting Panay, Guimaras, and Negros Islands in Western Visayas.

The KEXIM-EDCF loan has zero interest with a 0.1% service charge per disbursement, covering a maturity period of 40 years, including a 10-year grace period.

The loan will finance the project’s engineering services, including preliminary design, detailed engineering design and procurement assistance.

Engineering services will begin this year (2022), while construction is set to commence by 2025.

The Department of Public Works and Highways is the developer. The project contains 2 parts:

• Section A – 13km Panay-Guimaras
• Section B – 19.47km Guimaras-Negros

The department in March 2019 completed its feasibility study, undertaken by China Communication Construction.