MORE NEWS, BENGUET

P35 M needed to complete Baguio, Benguet road link

TUBA, Benguet -- The regional Department of Public Works and Highways needs at least P35 million to rehabilitate and restore a huge road cut along the Marcos highway here which serves as a major link to Baguio City, Benguet and the lowlands in order to bring back the smooth flow of traffic along the road.

The huge road cut at the middle of the supposed “all-weather road” was aggravated by the strong winds and heavy rains of Typhoon Karen which pulled down the pavement and closed the road to vehicular traffic for almost three days.

At the same time, the 15-ton limit of vehicles passing through Marcos highway before the occurrence of the road cut was temporarily reduced to 10 tons to allow the contractor to hasten work and restore the damaged pavement.

Mariano Alquiza, regional DPWH director, said the rehabilitation and restoration of the damaged road section located at Kaukalan, Taloy Sur here would be completed by December in time for the regular Christmas and New Year break of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in Baguio City.
Phase one of the rehabilitation is almost halfway and they expect to open the second phase of the rehabilitation works for public bidding anytime.

Initially, the DPWH has allotted P25 million for the complete rehabilitation of the road cut of the highway prior to the visit of Typhoon Karen.

However, the damaged portion of the road was eventually washed away by Typhoon Karen which made the DPWH budget short by at least P10 million to complete the rehabilitation works.
Alquiza said contractor Red Mole, and the Benguet engineering district are now working double time to ensure that the damaged portion would be restored at the soonest possible time to provide convenience to the motoring public.

According to him, they are hastening the complete rehabilitation of the damaged portion ahead of the Yuletide season as thousands of visitors are expected to come up to Baguio city using the Marcos highway as their main route due to its “all-weather” classification.

In 1998, Marcos highway was a recipient of a P1.2 billion loan from the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan for its conversion into an “all-weather road” through the construction of state-of-the-art slope protection walls, rock sheds to prevent frequent landslides and concreting of critical sections.

After the commencement of the construction activities along Marcos highway, there was a total of P44 million savings which was eventually utilized for the construction of the controversial flyover project at the rotunda of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center.

Aqluiza urged owners and drivers of heavy trucks to temporarily use Naguilian Road as their access to the city so as not to contribute in the delay of the rehabilitation work along Marcos Highway. -- Dexter A. See