P200 M set for Baguio City’s alternate roads

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY — The city received additional funding from the national government for construction of more bypass roads to ease traffic congestions which contribute to the delay in the delivery of basic services to local residents and tourists.

Rep. Bernardo M. Vergara, vice chairman of the House Committee on Public Works, announced the availability of at least P200 million for the construction of four arterial and bypass roads leading to neighboring towns in Benguet.

Based on Vergara’s list of projects, P50 million each will be earmarked for the construction of the Irisan-Balenben-Pinsao arterial road, the Ambiong-Lamut-Ambuclao arterial road, the Kisad road-Gov. Pack by pass road and the Magsaysay Avenue-Bell Church-South Sanitary Camp bypass road.

The construction of the new arterial roads around the city is apart from the completion of the 21-kilometer Baguio circumferential road that would link the city’s western and eastern links through the interconnection of major routes.

Vergara said that with the construction of more arterial roads, there will be a significant reduction in the heavy volume of traffic in Baguio’s central business district since motorists will be forced to take the arterial roads en route to their destinations due to lesser inconvenience and traffic.

Aside from providing alternate routes to vehicles, the new arterial and bypass roads will result in growth of businesses outside the city’s central business district area since more investors will be enticed to infuse their capital in potential and strategic locations outside the city but near busy roads that will also help in generating employment opportunities for local residents, he said.

The construction boom in the city is pursuant to the Aquino administration’s desire to have all national roads improved and concreted by the year 2014 and the subsequent concreting of all secondary arterial roads by the end of the administration in 2016.

Because of the expected influx of more infrastructure projects in the coming years, the congressman challenged project implementers to show their ability to complete their awarded works on time and with the right quality amidst the serious negative effects of the continuous afternoon rains so that they will be given a chance to implement more infrastructure projects in the coming years.