Government of China in financing talks with Government of Philippines over Luzon-Samar Link Bridge Project

During meetings from Jan. 9 to 10, 2018 between Philippine economic managers and Chinese officials in Beijing, the side of the Philippines submitted the PHP57.6 billion Luzon-Samar Link Bridge Project. This project involves the construction of three long-span bridges to connect Samar to the main island of Luzon, among nine projects worth a total of $1 billion also seeking feasibility study support at this time. The link bridge was expected to be 18.2 kilometers long. According to "Pipeline of Programs and Projects for Official Development Assistance(as of December 28, 2018, in millions)", the conduct of the pre-feasibility study for the project will commence in November 2018 with ADB assistance through the IPIF. As of August 2018, the loan was still under negotiation. According to "LIST: Duterte's new and shelved infrastructure projects" and "Too ambitious: NEDA drops 3 major bridge projects worth P161.6B," as of fall 2019 the project was not to be implemented by the Duterte administration. On Oct. 26, 2019, NEDA Director-General Ernesto Pernia released a statement about the cancellation of the Leyte-Surigao Link Bridge, Cebu-Bohol Link Bridge, and Luzon-Samar Link Bridge projects. According to the Director-General, these projects were hard to implement at that time due to the lack of technological and engineering equipment.

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