President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led dignitaries and local officials last Wednesday at the groundbreaking ceremony for the P903 million Pantal bridge and thanked the Japanese government for making the project possible by bankrolling it.

The President was joined by Japanese Ambassador Ryuchiro Yamazaki, Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr.

Gov. Victor Agbayani, Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin Lim, Reps. Generoso Tulagan and Amado Espino were on hand to witness the groundbreaking ceremonies.

The 380-linear meter bridge, funded by the Japan Bank for International Development (JBIC), is one of the 199 bridges to be built nationwide under the Urgent Bridges Construction Project for Rural Development funded at a total cost of P8.03 billion.

President Arroyo pointed out that the Pantal bridge is so far the biggest component consisting of one-third of the whole package.

The project is set to be completed in 28 months with Toyo Construction of Japan as its contractor.     

Also present for the occasion were Masami Kimishima, vice president of the Katahira Engineers International; Eijie Kobayash, project manager of Toyo Construction Ltd; and Tatsuji Miura, general manager  of  the Philippine Office of Tobishima Corp.

The start of the construction of the Pantal bridge also marked the 50th anniversary of the resumption of Philippine-Japanese relations this year.

“Japan is by far the biggest source of official development assistance to the Philippines,” Mrs. Arroyo said as she thanked the Japanese ambassador and other Japanese officials for joining the groundbreaking rites of the planned bridge.

The Pantal bridge, the only long span bridge of the bridges to be built nationwide under this Japanese facility, will cost much more than the other small bridges to be built in the Philippines.

Mrs. Arroyo said when completed, the construction of the bridge will effectively increase the usable land area in Dagupan City by one-third.

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said the Pantal bridge is part of a five kilometer new diversion road funded solely by his P254 million Countrywide Development Fund and claimed that not a single centavo came from the city government.

Citing the benefit of the diversion road to the city, he urged Mayor Benjamin Lim to relocate the city hall from its present location to the diversion road area.

He also thanked the Japanese ambassador and other Japanese officials for joining the groundbreaking rites of the planned bridge.

The Pantal bridge, the only long span bridge among the bridges to be built nationwide under this Japanese facility, will cost much more than the other bridges to be built in the Philippines.

The president pointed out that while Dagupan is not a rural area, it has been considered an exception to the rest of the bridges to be constructed under the Urgent Bridges Construction Project for Rural Development.

Mrs. Arroyo said when completed, the diversion road will effectively increase the usable land area in Dagupan City by one-third.

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said the Pantal Bridge is part of a five kilometer new diversion road funded solely by his P254 million Countrywide Development Fund and claimed that not a single centavo came from the city government.

President Arroyo acknowledged that the diversion road is a pet project of Speaker De Venecia to provide motorists trouble-free traffic and at the same time enhance trade and commerce not only in Pangasinan and Dagupan City but in the entire Northern Luzon area.

Speaker’s claim that the city government did not have to spend anything for the diversion road was also acknowledged by Mayor Lim initially but he later refuted in subsequent media interviews.

Lim told a radio station last Friday that it was the city government that spent for the relocation of  the squatters in the area traversed by the new road, paid for the land for their relocation site and talked to property owners not to demand higher amount for their land that were made parts of the rights-of-way.

The President reiterated that the Pantal Bridge is “one of the big projects in our medium term public investment program”, that she discussed in her State of the Nation Address before Congress last July 24.

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