To decongest Metro Manila traffic and allow free flow of labor and goods, the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of up to $2.1 billion to build a 32.15-kilometer (km) climate-resilient bridge connecting Bataan and Cavite to Manila Bay, touted as “one of the world’s longest marine bridges”.

In a statement on Tuesday, Dec. 12, ADB said the Bataan–Cavite Interlink Bridge (BCIB) Project, which is one of the country’s flagship infrastructure projects, will improve mobility of labor and goods once it has completed the transport loop around Manila Bay.

The bridge will link Metro Manila to central Luzon and nearby Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon provinces and “boost economic activity in these areas” where 60 percent of the country’s gross domestic product come from.

ADB Vice President Scott Morris, handling East, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said the BCIB project will “unlock the full potential of Bataan and Cavite for trade, manufacturing, and industrial output, and boost their tourism.”

“The BCIB represents the latest installment in ADB’s broader agenda of support towards strengthening urban and regional transport networks in and around greater Manila. This includes the South Commuter Railway, Malolos Clark Railway, and two other projects currently being prepared for financing—the Metro Manila Rail Transit Line 4 and the Laguna Lakeshore Road Network. These projects will expand and transform the transport network in the metropolis, improve regional connectivity, and offer Filipinos access to more job opportunities,” he added.

According to the ADB statement, the BCIB project will be financed under a multitranche financing facility, with the first tranche amounting to $650 million.

ADB also said that the project will cut travel time between Bataan and Cavite to 1.5 hours from five hours, and to about two hours from four hours between Bataan and Metro Manila. The traffic decongestion in Metro Manila and the reduced travel time will help lower annual greenhouse gas emissions in the country by an estimated 79,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, it added.

The construction of “one of the world’s longest marine bridges” will include two cable-stayed bridges, a 24-km of marine viaducts, and a total 8-km of approach road in the two provinces.

ADB said a road connectivity to Manila, Cavite, and southern Luzon will likewise improve Bataan’s manufacturing industries in the Freeport Area of Bataan, which is “the only freeport in the Manila Bay area (and) making it an ideal transshipment hub.”

The project can also help expand the use of Bataan’s Mariveles port to provide an alternative to the busy port of Manila, said the multilateral bank.

In addition, ADB said the interlink bridge will offer “easier access from northern Luzon to Cavite, one of the most industrialized provinces in the country, and host to businesses in the service, export, logistics services, facilities, and information technology sectors.”

The ADB-financed Infrastructure Preparation and Innovation Facility took care of the project preparation, environment and social safeguards due diligence, as well as the project’s detailed engineering design.

ADB said the project “will follow high technical standards to boost resilience to natural hazards and the effects of climate change, such as sea level rise, increase in temperature and heatwaves, and extreme weather events. The bridge will be built using low-carbon technologies and construction materials where applicable.”