CATBALOGAN, Samar – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), 2 nd Samar Engineering District, has announced that the construction and rehabilitation of the Maharlika Highway in Samar is now underway.
In a weekly media forum here on Jan. 4, District Engineer Pablo Z. Aragon disclosed that the rehabilitation project for the section of the highway from Calbiga town to Tarangnan town, which is the boundary of the first and second engineering districts, has already been awarded and that the construction work is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2006.
According to him, the budget for this road project covering a total of 59.53 kilometers is about P1.7 billion and that the Japan Bank International Cooperation (JBIC) has already released its P734 million fund share for the project.
“The bidding of this project has been recently done, and this was funded by the Philippine government with counterpart funding from a foreign government through the efforts of the congressional office of Rep. (Catalino) Figueroa,” Aragon said.
To recall, Rep. Figueroa of Samar’s second district earlier announced that the funding for this project has already been approved in the House of Representatives through his and Samar first district Rep. Reynaldo Uy’s efforts.
The two congressmen earlier told reporters here that because of the “bad” condition of these roads, potential investors and tourists were discouraged to visit Samar despite the fact that the province has many tourist attractions to offer.
As this developed, they also said several complaints coming from commuters and bus operators reached their offices particularly about the “bad road” section along the Maharlika Highway.
Meanwhile, because of the incessant rains that recently occurred in the region, many road sections of the Maharlika highway in this province suffered “road slips” of which damages were estimated by the DPWH to be worth millions of pesos.
In Samar, for instance, the Pisak road along the Wright-Taft road was earlier declared by the DPWH as impassable to all kinds of heavy vehicles. “Passing through the 40-50 meter stretch is deemed dangerous because of continuous erosion due to heavy rains,” Engr. Aragon said. He described that this road section as between a high mountain and a deep embankment.
Aragon added that the regional office has earlier declared a travel advisory about the road being closed to vehicular traffic but this was not followed by some of the commuters.
This prompted the department to make an improvised passage on the shoulder but only for light vehicles. Aragon said heavy vehicles were directed to take the Basey-Lawaan coastal road route.
Public utility jeeps and buses, however, were allowed to pass so long as they unload their passengers first before passing the perilous site.
Of this situation, Aragon said he has already submitted a report and a recommendation on how much would be needed to repair the road slips along the national highway.
“We need at least P10 million and that includes the cutting of the upper mountain and trees, and constructing of walls or structures to contain the soil,” he said.
