Floating bridge will unleash Mimaropa potential

THE province of Oriental Mindoro is an island that suffers from unstable electricity supply, destructive floods, lack of clean and potable water, lack of cold storage for produce, and it takes an average of 3 to 4 hours to travel from Manila to Batangas to Calapan City. Logistics and supply chain is necessary for the province to grow and since Occidental Mindoro shares a common border with Occidental Mindoro, responding to these issues in the next six years is critical for the development of Mimaropa.

Mimaropa is one of two regions having no land border with another region. The other is Eastern Visayas. So, interconnection is an economic infrastructure solution to unleash its potential. Mimaropa is composed of the two Mindoro islands, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan. These islands are tourist destinations and agricultural provinces. Linking Batangas and Oriental Mindoro is linking Mimaropa to one of the three biggest regions in the country, Calabarzon. The potential is big if a bridge is constructed since people can use the bridge and RoRo can be maintained for produce, creating an intermodal means. The bridge can cut down the travel delays due to RoRos that do not follow their schedules of departure from the Batangas pier to Calapan City pier and back.