P48 M Dantay-Sagada road done by November

by Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province -- The rehabilitation of the dilapidated Dantay- Sagada Road here will be finished by November as the the Department of Public Works and Highways and BMK Construction started work January this year .

The P48 million road work covers 1.3 kilometers starting from the Dantay- Junction forking the road to Sagada, Bontoc and Baguio.

The dusty road is being widened and concreted with slope
protection walls.

Sagada Mayor Edward Latawan Jr said an additional P32 million was programmed this year for concreting the road following the
visit of DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson in Sagada last year.

Additional funding is being pursued to continue the road construction till the Batalao section.

The Dantay- Sagada Road was named John Staunton Road in honor of American missionary John Staunton Jr who opened the road in the early 1900s.

The road was then declared a national highway in an executive order by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last quarter of 2009.

Development of the 17 kilometer Dantay- Sagada Road is one of the tourism-related infrastructure projects endorsed by DOT regi9onal director Purificacion Molintas who also chairs the infrastructure committee of the Regional Development Council.

Earlier , a separate resolution was forwarded October last year by the Sangguniang Bayan of Sagada to DOT Secretary Alberto Lim for his appropriation of a P90 million request for the rehabilitation of the Dantay Sagada Road and requested Molintas for her endorsement on said proposed project.

Said resolution was also forwarded to Singson.

A part of the total road length measuring 11 km from Pegeo to Sumaguing section was earlier forwarded in a resolution September last year by Sagada’s Sangguniang Bayan to Molintas for her endorsement.

The P30 million proposal requested improvement of pathway to Bomod-ok and Bokong Falls; landscape of Sagada Municipal Park, installation of guard rails and directional signs, access road to Balangagan Cave, and construction
of public toilets.

Said resolution was forwarded to operating officer of
the tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority Mark Lapid.

Some concreted sections of the road network was earlier done with funds from Sen. Francis Pangilinan, former Bayan Muna representative Satur Ocampo,
and the previous provincial administration.