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

  • African Development Bank funds road to Africa’s largest wind farm
    February 20, 2014
    Shem Oirere discusses a new road connecting with a wind farm development in Kenya The African Development Bank will provide 45% of the funding needed for the rehabilitation and rebuilding of a new 200km road which leads to Africa's largest wind farm project, located in northern Kenya. The bank said the $13.5 million grant for rehabilitation of the existing Laisamis – Ngurunit – llaut - South Horr – Loyangalani road- will be provided by the Government of the Netherlands. The bank says works on the road will
  • Mallorca airport runway upgrade with machine control
    April 13, 2017
    The latest machine control technology has played an important role in an airport runway upgrade for Mallorca. The Spanish island has long been a major tourist destination and its airport has been struggling to cope with demand, handling around 26 million passengers in 2016. Palma de Mallorca Airport is the third largest airport in Spain and during the peak summer holiday period, the massive influx of tourists makes it one of the busiest airports in Europe.
  • Shortlist announced for UK’s Roads for the Future competition
    May 30, 2018
    The UK’s National Infrastructure Commission has shortlisted five companies including Aecom and Arup in a competition for ideas to make roads fit for driverless cars. The five companies were chosen from 81 entries submitted to the Roads for the Future initiative led by the roads authority Highways England and Innovate UK, a government agency that encourages research and innovation in many sectors. Aecom is examining how smart traffic signals could advise drivers as to a speed they should be driving if they
  • Costs rise for extending the South Luzon Expressway around Manila
    May 10, 2016
    South Luzon Tollways Corporation has said the cost of extending the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) in the Philippines has increased by 27% from nearly US$290 million to almost $348. The SLEx already runs for 36km around the greater Manila area. South Luzon Tollways is preparing the detailed engineering for the 58km SLEx Toll Road Project Number Four - the last of the four expressway sections. South Luzon also will select a construction contractor for the project, split into five works contracts and sch