Illustration of the Samal Island-Davao City Connector Project

Bangkok, (People’s Daily) - China and the Philippines on Thursday signed a contract for a bridge in Mindanao, the second largest island of the country.

The China-financed bridge will link the Island Garden City of Samal to Davao City across the Pakiputan Strait. The bridge is one of key cooperation projects between China and the Philippines and a flagship project under the “Build, Build, Build” program, which aims to address the country’s infrastructure backlog.

The project is a two-way four-lane 3.86-km bridge and will be designed in a cable-stayed structure with the twin towers and double cable planes. The construction is estimated to last five years.

Once completed, the bridge will provide a resilient and reliable transportation link between Metro Davao and Samal Island, reducing the transportation time and enhancing internal mobility and external linkage to support the economic and tourist growth potential of the local region. It will also increase the economic activities and improve the livelihood of the local people who have long dreamed of having such a bridge.

The Chinese government and the Philippine government will soon kick off the loan agreement negotiations of the project. The project is expected to break ground in the first half of 2021.