Skip to main content

Head of San Miguel moots a Philippines bridge project in Boracay

The president of infrastructure group San Miguel has mooted that a 2km toll bridge be built to connect the small island holiday resort of Boracay with the Larger Panay Island. Boracay - just over 10km2 - is an increasingly popular international tourist destination around 315km south of the Philippine capital Manila and 2km off the northwest tip of Panay in Western Visayas island group. The island is blessed with exceptionally white sand beaches and is administered by the Philippine Tourism Authority and
June 8, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The president of infrastructure group San Miguel has mooted that a 2km toll bridge be built to connect the small island holiday resort of Boracay with the Larger Panay Island.

Boracay - just over 10km2 - is an increasingly popular international tourist destination around 315km south of the Philippine capital Manila and 2km off the northwest tip of Panay in Western Visayas island group. The island is blessed with exceptionally white sand beaches and is administered by the Philippine Tourism Authority and the provincial government of Aklan.

The bridge would run from the town of Caticlan to Boracay, said San Miguel president Ramon Ang in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper. The cost would be around US$100 million, he reportedly said.

“We proposed the idea to them [local authority]…,” said Ang. Tourism would be greatly boosted for both islands because a road would mean people headed for Boracay could stay in Caticlan overnight and not have to choose between one island and the other.

“We think what’s best is if everybody could stay and eat in Caticlan and go to Boracay to enjoy the beach,” Ang said.

Caticlan airport has recently been upgraded to accommodate the largest of jets.

San Miguel is one of the largest Philippines corporations, focused mainly on food but is branching out into infrastructure, power, mining and general construction work.

Earlier this year, the Philippines government said it might separate a 47km six-lane road construction element near Manila from a complicated land reclamation and dike development contract recently shunned by preferred bidders.

San Miguel Holdings was among the pre-qualified consortia. Others were Trident Infrastructure and Development consortium – consisting of SM Prime Holdings, Megaworld, Ayala Land and Aboitiz Equity Ventures – and the Alloy-PAVI LLEDP consortium.

None of the three qualified bidders for the Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike public-private partnership deal submitted final bids for the contract. There were concerns over the legality of reclaiming 700 ha of land and whether investors could make money from it.

Related Content

  • New bridges in the Philippines
    September 23, 2022
    New bridges are planned to improve links to Mactan Island in the Philippines.
  • Slovak government stands firm over R2 Expressway, including Soroska Tunnel
    August 11, 2017
    Jan Durisin, head of Slovakia’s motorway operator NDS, has said that the R2 expressway, will go ahead despite watchdog fears of poor value for money. Completion of the R2, that includes the Soroska Tunnel, remains 2024, he told Slovakian news agencies. NDS, he said, will start looking for a contractor to start work in 2018 on a stretch of the expressway near the town of Roznava. R2 is a 360km route that will run from Kosice in the east across the country to Trenčín, near the Czech border in the west. It wil
  • Reclaimer/stabilisers are helping rebuild roads in South Africa
    October 3, 2014
    Contractor Nyoni Projects is taking a new approach to two major road upgrades in the North West Province of South Africa. The company is refining its fleet and processes with the use of two new Caterpillarr RM300 reclaimer/recyclers. By introducing these new machines and the associated working methods, the firm believes it can help meet the country’s growing road repair, reclamation and building needs. The firm has seen an increase in productivity since it started using the machines. Maclaud Nyoni, m
  • Diamond in the Pearl: China’s Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge complex
    March 8, 2018
    People in the Pearl River Delta are celebrating the Chinese New Year with the imminent opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. David Arminas reviews progress. China’s Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year, is celebrated with the usual enthusiasm and spectacular fireworks. But celebrations will be particularly joyous for many people in the southern Pearl River Delta. The soon-to-be-open Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) will slash travel time between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Zhuh