THE Department of Public Works and Highways said that the construction of the massive Cavite-Bataan Interlink Bridge is expected to commence by next year. DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan said over ABS-CBN News that they are now in the finalizing stages for the start of the project. “We’re just trying to finalize actually yung financing arrangement namin with Asian Development Bank,” Bonoan said. It was earlier projected to start at the latter part of 2023. The cable-stayed bridge will be about 32 kilometers long and will cross Manila Bay. The said bridge is expected to reduce the travel time between Cavite and Bataan to around 30 minutes from 5 hours at present. This meant that for motorists who will be coming from Manila, travel time to Bataan is seen to be less than 2 hours from over 3 hours at present. “When this is completed, it will be the second longest bay bridge in the world,” Bonoan said. This is also expected to be the longest bridge in the country. It will be longer than the 8.9-kilometer Cebu-Cordova Bridge and the 2.1-kilometer San Juanico Bridge. The DPWH chief said they will begin construction “hopefully early or middle of next year.”