MANILA - The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) on Thursday said it has resumed construction on several major bridge projects meant to ease traffic in Metro Manila.

These projects are: the Bonifacio Global City-Ortigas Center Link, the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge, the Binondo-Intramuros Bridge, and the Sta. Monica-Lawton Bridge, the agency said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

DPWH Undersecretary Emil Sadain said they resumed civil works on these flagship bridge projects after getting the green light from the government body tasked with checking the spread of COVID-19.

The Bonifacio Global City-Ortigas Center Link is 51 percent complete, the DPWH said. Once finished, this project is expected to reduce travel time between the two commercial centers to just 12 minutes from the current 1 hour.

The BGC-Ortigas Link has 2 parts: the Sta. Monica-Lawton Bridge, which will span the Pasig River and connect Lawton Avenue in Makati and Santa Monica Street in Pasig; and the Lawton Avenue – Global City Viaduct, which will traverse Lawton Avenue to the entrance of BGC. DPWH expects to finish the Sta. Monica-Lawton Bridge by December this year.

The project broke ground in July 2017 and was originally expected to be finished by March this year.

The Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge, also known as the Rockwell Bridge, which connects the cities of Makati and Mandaluyong, meanwhile is 54 percent complete, the DPWH said.

Construction of the bridge started in September 2018, but work was suspended until January 2019 because of the heavy traffic expected in the area in the months leading to the Christmas season. The bridge is expected to be finished after 30 months, or mid-2021.

The DPWH said the Binondo-Intramuros Bridge is 32 percent complete. The project, which will connect two of Manila’s historic districts, broke ground in July 2018 and is expected to be finished after two and a half years or the end of 2021.

Public Works Secretary Mark Villar earlier said they also expect to finish the Skyway Stage 3 and Harbor Link tollways this year, despite the disruptions caused by COVID-19 to construction activities.

Economic managers have said that infrastructure spending will play a key role in breathing life back into the economy, which shrank for the first time since 1998.