Mindanao’s Panguil Bay, Guicam bridges to open this year – Marcos Jr.

The 3.71-kilometer Panguil Bay Bridge, which is nearing completion, is expected to open to the public in August. Connecting the municipality of Tubod in Lanao del Norte and Tangub City in Misamis Occidental, it will be the country’s second longest bridge. Photographed Sunday noon, 30 June 2024 by BOBBY TIMONERA / MindaNews

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 23 July) – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced on Monday that two major bridge projects in Mindanao will be completed this year.

During his 3^rd State of the Nation Address, Marcos said that the 3.17-kilometer (km) Panguil Bay Bridge and the 1.21- km Guicam Bridge under the administration’s “Inter-Island Linkage Bridge Program” would be opened to motorists before the year ends.

He said Panguil Bay Bridge is the “longest water-spanning bridge in Northern Mindanao,” which will connect Lanao del Norte to Misamis Occidental while the Guicam Bridge will connect Olutanga Island in Zambonga Sibugay to the mainland of Mindanao.

According to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the bridge projects are expected to boost the economic growth of Mindanao, help sustain peace and security in the Island, and harness the socio-economic opportunities and growth of the communities.

The agency said the Panguil Bay Bridge would reduce travel time between Tangub City, Misamis Occidental and Tubod, Lanao del Norte to only seven minutes, from the current travel time of one-and-a-half hours to two-and-a-half hours via Roll-On Roll Off (RoRo) vessels or land travel with over a distance of 100 kilometers.

The Panguil Bay Bridge project was approved during the administration of the late President Benigno Aquino III, and construction of what would be Mindanao’s longest bridge commenced during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

On the other hand, the DPWH said that the Guicam Bridge would link Barangay Guicam, Alicia to Barangay Hula-Hula, Mabuhay crossing the Canaliso Strait and will serve as “transport and economic connector” for Olutanga, Talusan, and Mabuhay municipalities of Olutanga Island and the mainland municipality of Alicia and other towns of Zamboanga Sibugay.

Marcos, who assumed power on June 30, 2022, reported that at least 12,000 kms of roads and 1,200 kms of bridges have been built and upgraded across the country as of May 2024 under his watch.

“Of note, we have provided the budget to upgrade three hundred sixty-seven bridges and almost one thousand six hundred kilometers of road along our country’s longest thoroughfare — the Maharlika Highway — from Luzon all the way to Mindanao,” he said. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)