Road concreting work irks locals

3 MIN READ

By ARTHUR ALLAD-IW
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — Residents of the affected areas of the road projects at Loakan and Kennon roads, here, condemned the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) simultaneous projects which now cause heavy traffic.

In a Monday meeting of the city council here, DPWH Baguio City District Project Engineer Alfredo Bannagao Jr. agreed to cover the scraped road at the Poliwes part of Kennon Road with gravel to allow a two-lane passage in the area. The meeting was held due to public pressure clamoring an explanation for the scraped part of the Kennon Road which caused half of the road impassable especially when it rains.

Poliwes Brgy. Captain Joseph Del-ong said Wednesday that the DPWH failed to cover the said road to pave the way for both lanes to be passable and to ease the traffic flow.
Residents are now suffering from the mess and had to suffer being late in attending offices and classes. Classes for public elementary and high school started June 1 while private elementary and high school started June 8.

Del-ong also suggested in the city council session last Monday for the DPWH to clear the canal at the BGH portion so that the water would not go down the areas affected by road cementing and widening projects in Camp 8 – Poliwes areas of Kennon Road. “The BGH canal clearing including stone covering at the Poliwes Road were not done as promised,” said Del-ong in an interview on Wednesday.

Assailed publicly for causing heavy traffic jams along Kennon and Loakan roads since the project started on March 26, the projects involved concreting and road widening of the said roads.

Residents of the affected areas were angry when they learned that the materials scraped from the Poliwes Road were allegedly used to fill the road concreting in Loakan, which needed to be elevated according to Bannagao.

“Why scrape that road which will surely cause heavy traffic. They can have materials taken from other areas and make Poliwes passable while doing the widening,” an angry resident of Poliwes told Nordis.

Bannagao did not confirm the allegation when confronted by media Wednesday.

What is worse is that the DPWH and the contractor had not designated personnel to help in traffic management. Local officials from Poliwes and San Vicente were forced by the situation to help in the traffic, particularly when it rains and the road is only good for one way traffic.

“Dakamin ti mabasa ken maungtan ti lumabas gapo iti kinaawan sistematiko a plano ti gobyerno ken kontraktor. Imbag koma no ada met itulong da. (It is us now who suffer from the mess of the DPWH and the contractor. We do not even receive help from them),” an interviewed official said.

Ebdane-ordered simultaneous projects

The DPWH Baguio district office Tuesday said the three on-going road-improvement projects were ordered finished before the end of June thus the simultaneous construction.

In a press orientation and ocular visit, Bannagao said the construction work for the P57 million simultaneous road projects are being rushed and are expected to be finished before the 88-calendar-day program that would end June 21.

The Loakan Road 603-meter concreting is now on its 14-day curing period. Bannagao assured the public that by June 23 all types of vehicles may ply the said road. Commuters have been walking through the fresh concrete road since Monday when a lane had to be concreted with the first lane not yet ready for traffic.

Bannagao said road workers are busy clearing the debris on the other lane that he opted to close the road to traffic until June 23.

The Outlook Drive project is already 100% done, according to Bannagao, while the Kennon widening and concreting work is not left behind.

Asked why the road projects had to be simultaneously implemented, Bannagao did not say anything but invited the media and the Regional Development Council to join him on an ocular visit.

It was learned earlier that DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane ordered the scraping of the Poliwes Road and use the materials for the Loakan Road, which had to be elevated a few meters. Ebdane also ordered all prime road work done before the end of June.# nordis.net