HOUSE Speaker Jose C. de Venecia, Jr. has assured that the construction of the new Pantal bridge is expected to start by early next year as the project is now set for bidding to interested contractors in December.

De Venecia told newsmen at his residence that the bidding will be most likely held in Japan or in Manila although he did not indicate how much money would be made available by the Japanese government.

When completed, the new bridge will link the two roads being constructed, one from Dawel to Pantal and another from Babaliwan to Lucao, passing the CSI City Mall. The bridge would be funded by a loan from the Japan International Bank for International Cooperation (JIBC) with no counterpart whatsoever from the Philippine government. The loan for the project will come from the Japanese government, which will also conduct a public bidding and construction of the same, de Venecia said.

He said because the Japanese government is conducting the bidding and the construction of the project, one can be sure that there is integrity in the proceedings and only the best contractors can be chosen to build the project.

But what is delaying the construction of the road in the Pantal side is the continued resistance of squatters whose shanties were encroached upon by the project who still refused to be relocated. The Department of Public Works and Highways and the city government are still persuading the squatters to give way to the project by agreeing to be relocated to another site.

Meanwhile, de Venecia announced the completion of a three-kilometer dike built by the Department of Public Works and Highways in Sison town that closed out a major breach of the southern embankment of the Bued river.

De Venecia visited the project along with the mayors of the fourth district of Pangasinan, namely Benjamin Lim of Dagupan City, Herminio Romero of Mangaldan, Rolando Columbres of San Jacinto, Napoleon Sales of Manaoag and Mojamito Libunao of San Fabian.

The mayors suggested to de Venecia the construction of a laundering channel where excess water of the Sinocalan river would be diverted during the flood enroute to the Linbgayen Gulf.

But this almost imnpossible to build at this time because the project will require a budget of three billion pesos.

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