DPWH OKs P117 M for repair of Halsema

TUBLAY, Benguet — The Department of Public Works and Highways central office approved the allocation of P117 million from the P12 billion additional calamity fund last year for immediate rehabilitation and restoration of two major road cuts along the Halsema Highway, the only major road link from Baguio City to other parts of the Cordillera.

The huge road cuts which rendered the road impassable for a few days right after the onslaught of typhoon “Pepeng” late last year are still in a punch through situation awaiting the release of the funds so that project implementers could start working on its restoration prior to the onset of the rainy season.

Engineer Enrico Guilas, newly-installed DPWH Cordillera director, said some P77 million will be used for the rehabilitation of the 300-meter road cut along Kilometer-18, Ambassador, Tublay town, while another P40 million will be spent for the rehabilitation of a smaller road cut along km 31, Atok town, all in the area of jurisdiction of Benguet.

According to Guilas, the agency will be using Japanese technology as recommended by the commissioned consultants, Katahira Engineering, in returning the damaged portions of the Halsema Highway to their original form so that the thousands of motorists and farmers will not be inconvenienced by the road cuts.

The DPWH official said rehabilitation and restoration of the road cuts will be undertaken through a combination of backfilling, construction of state-of-the-art retaining wall, and installation of galvanized sheets so as not to affect adjacent areas which could probably give way during the onslaught of heavy rains during the rainy season.

With the said means, Guilas added there will be no need to touch the slopes of the damaged road sections which are having road-right-of-way problems.

The approval of the funding for the repair of both damaged road sections was based on the snowballing clamor of thousands of local residents and motorists who flooded the agency with numerous letters appealing for support to immediately restore the damaged road sections for the benefit of smoother and safer vehicular traffic. – Dexter A. See