The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The alternative road designed to reduce the risk of passing the dangerous “saddle road” in Pintuyan town will be passable in seven months with the implementation of P48 million road realignment concreting project, the Department of Public Works and Highways-Southern Leyte District Engineering Office (DPWH-SLDEO) announced recently.
The DPWH has already bided out the project last February 1 in an effort to complete the three-year project designed to prevent road accidents in the area.
The P48 million outlays will cover road concreting activities, construction of slope protection works, installation of line canal and metal guardrails. The past two years, the DPWH already opened the diversion road to the public.
In 2014, the central government has allocated P20 million for the road opening works. The budget rose to P50 million in 2015 for the opening and lowering of grades of the 560-meter alternative road.
Ongoing improvement within the saddle road section is primarily designed to reduce traffic accidents, according to DPWH.
The incline steep road and blind curves besides deep cliff make the road section in the boundary of Son-ok and Manglit villages in Pintuyan town the most dangerous in Eastern Visayas.
This road is a vital link that connects Eastern Visayas to Mindanao.
Meanwhile, some P62.3 million will be needed by the DPWH to finance the rehabilitation of infrastructure damaged by typhoon Nona in Northern Samar.
Damaged structures include road shoulders, drainage canals, bridges’ approach slope protection, river control among others.
DPWH Northern Samar 2nd District Engineer Ferdinand Briones called for an immediate funding for the restoration of the structures damaged by Nona so as not to impede road-users and motorists.