Sabangan detour bridge to start work

By Gina Dizon   

 SABANGAN, Mountain Province -- -- It shall not be an additional four hour  travel anymore to passengers plying the regular six-hour Baguio-Bontoc road to take  the alternative Nakawang Besao- Tadian- Mabaay Bauko Road  or Mountain Province- Ifugao Mt Polis section as earlier advised by the  Mountain Province  District Engineering Office (MPDEO) due tentative closing of the Sabangan bridge by Feb 15.

Instead, the  MPDEO and  winning contractor Tribu Construction of the P26 million Sabangan Bridge project shall be constructing a  detour bailey bridge upstream the existing  Sabangan bridge the soonest possible time.

With the start of the bailey bridge to finish work in two weeks  time shall be followed by the replacement of the dilapidated  bridge seemingly  by the first week of March.  The Sabanganbridge was constructed in the late ‘50s and last repaired in the late 80s.

This, following  talks here between and among  MPDEO officials, winning contractor Tribu Construction and adverse claimant  private contractor  Robert  Dacyon in the latter’s claim for expenses of his  prior improvements in the one way section leading  towards the targeted detour bridge located near the existing  Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) office of sitioNacagang.

Earlier Dacyon demanded  the amount of P 1.6 million to cover his expenses but  Penelope Claver, MPDEO Road Right of Way Agent said  improvements are below the  demanded amount.  Claver said the assessed  value is based on the existing physical view of the targetted route.  

In the recent February 5 prescon- forum with the Mountain Province District Engineering  Office and the  Montanosa  Press Club, Dacyon narrated that he began earth- filling works on what was once a ricefield located above the banks of the Bayodan River  in 2002. The site is near the  DENR Office at sitioNacagang upon the prompting of MPDEO then  due a projected infrastructure work  in said area.

Through the years however, no project has been  initiated in said site.

MPDEO  planning officer  Esther Taynec  said any  amount  demanded from earlier works is not backed up with  evidence to prove claim as to the  physical situation of the site then  and improvements  introduced therein to base computation  except  existing visible improvements.

Besides, the budgeted 26 million peso project  does not include estimates for a road  right of way as the diverting  turn  to the detour  bridge is found outside of the main existing road, Taynec said. The government is not going to claim ownership of  the area after the main bridge finished construction.

In said forum, Dacyon said he wants the original state of the lot brought back to its agricultural form upon termination of   temporary road use.

The meeting pursued with the agreement of both contractor represented by Engr Octavio Bernardez and  Dacyon to work together, and the construction of the bailey bridge and the main bridge to proceed as planned.  

The 365 day duration of the project has already began initial works November last year and the construction targeted to begin February this year and end November.

Apprehensions were noted from the public on taking alternative routes via Mt Polis and  Nakawang-Tadian road considering  emergency medical cases; transport of perishable crops;  travel of regular commuters from Sabangan, Tadian and Bauko to the capital town of Bontoc and vice versa;  and increased travel time adding to discomfort and additional fare rates.

Calls for postponement on doing the bridge to a later date was not rendered wise by MPDEO with the coming of the rains  months from now and posing  difficulties and possible delays in construction.