Baguio-Aritao road ready by June

BAGUIO CITY -- Travel time from this city to Region 2 would be reduced by two to three hours as the Baguio- Aritao road improvement project (Baguio-Pangawan-Kayapa section) is ready for inauguration by June 21.

With this, motorists could take the route instead of passing through the longer Pangasinan and Nueva Ecija via Dalton Pass.

BARIP monitoring and advisory group co-chair Bial Palaez said the road project dubbed as Contract Package I with a length of 68.128 km from Pacdal Circle, Baguio City to the Benguet- Nueva Vizcaya boundary in Pangawan, Kayapa is 97 percent complete in accordance with approved engineering plans and specification as presented by Project Monitoring Office – Department of Public Works and Highways pending some works along the bypass road.

The bypass road spanning 1.6 km is one of the modified works under the BARIP, and some works are still to be completed due to some problems on road right of way.
The P50 million worth bridge found at the approach of the bypass road spanning the upper Agno river which provides water to the Ambuklao and Binga hydroelectric plants has already been completed.

The project cost per revised contract is P1.7 billion. The original project contract cost per notice to proceed dated June 15, 2004 is P1.4 billion.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inaugurated last year contract package II from Pangawan, Kayapa to Aritao with a distance of 35.616 km with a contract cost of P858 million.

The road section had original completion date of May 20, 2007 but was extended to October 2007. The contractor requested for another extension with a revised completion date of March 28, 2008.

Palaez said the two previous timeframe extensions which actually increased the project cost as per recommendation of the PMO and project consultants were due to heavy rains during the wet season. There were road damages coupled with suspended work operations.

The third extension is due to the unsettled road right of way claims of residents along the bypass road.

The contractor advanced an amount of P1.5 million to be reimbursed by the DPWH and the balance of P1million has been obligated by DPWH with assurance that payment be made before the project is turned over on June 21, 2008.

BARIP is under the Cordillera Road Improvement Project funded by the Japan government through Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and the Philippine government. -- PIA-Benguet