The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has pushed back the target completion of the P3.4-billion iconic Binondo-Intramuros project to the first half of 2022 from this year.
Initially, the new bridge is targeted to be finished by the end of this year, but DPWH said it had to push back the project timeframe to relocate public and private services and utilities in the area as well as to wait for the prefabricated steel materials to come in from China.
The project was also affected by work suspensions at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Emil Sadain, DPWH undersecretary and Build, Build, Build chief implementer, said the overall progress of the bridge project is now at 88.63 percent.
The Binondo-Intramuros Bridge project involves the construction of 680 linear meter bridge connecting the historic district of Intramuros at Solana Street and Riverside Drive with the bustling district of Binondo at Rentas Street/Plaza del Conde Street and Muelle dela Industria.
The bridge project is financed by a grant aid from the People’s Republic of China.
Considered one of the flagship infrastructure projects of DPWH under the Build, Build, Build program, the bridge is expected to not only cut travel time between the two busy districts of Intramuros and Binondo in Manila, but also benefit approximately 30,000 vehicles daily.
In a related development, DPWH signed an agreement with Laguna Lake Development Authority to use a parcel of land along the shoreland of Laguna de Bay in Taytay, Rizal as backfilling site for the river improvement works at the lower/middle Marikina River.
Under a tripartite memorandum of agreement, a 30.04-hectare property in Barangay Sta. Ana in Taytay will be used as disposal area for materials taken from the dredging and excavation of waterways covered by the Marikina River Improvement Works of the Pasig-Marikina River Channel Improvement Project, Phase IV. – Myla Iglesias
