Saturday, June 07, 2008 [ sunstar.com.ph ]
THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 discussed reblocking the Transcentral Highway (TCH), but the Regional Development Council (RDC) Infrastructure Development Committee (IDC) wants a more permanent solution.
About 20 sections will be reblocked, which involves repairing the cracked pavements and replacing some segments with drainage, said DPWH 7 Engr. Leah Negre.
She explained that the work will stretch the road’s lifespan by 20 more years, granting no “untoward calamities” will happen.
But National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) 7 Director Marlene Rodriguez quoted an assessment of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources that the TCH sits on a landslide-prone area.
“This might be an (annual) correction because of the geological problem. Year after year, millions might be spent to do the same correction,” Rodriguez said.
“This may happen again. That’s money down the drain,” echoed Emmanuel Rabacal, RDC-IDC chairman.
Negre explained that these were considered when DPWH 7 designed the P55 million reblocking program.
This is separate from the work that Rep. Pablo John Garcia (Cebu Province, 3rd district) commissioned with the DPWH Central Office, which granted a P15 million funding for rehabilitation.
The reblocking will be conducted in the Cebu City side of the 32.5-kilometer TCH, which cuts through the mountains linking Balamban and Cebu City. It cuts travel time between the island’s eastern and western seaboard to about 45 minutes.
Allan Alfon, representing Aboitiz Land, raised the concern of Balamban-based shipbuilder Tsuneishi Heavy Industries Cebu Inc., which was reportedly forced to use the longer route through the Toledo-Naga road in going to Cebu City because of “apprehensions” in plying the TCH.
Roberto Aboitiz, chairman of the Cebu Industrial Park Developers Inc., requested DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane last March to immediately repair the TCH, which he described as “failing, slipping and eroding.”
Aboitiz pointed out that the highway had collapsed in many areas on the Balamban side.
Rodriguez asked if there is a chance of opening alternative roads considering the geological problems in that area.
“That’s a hopeless case because it (highway) lies on a fault zone,” said Rabacal.
DPWH 7 promised to look into it.
Garcia though, in an earlier interview, said that opening up new roads may cost the government at least P1 billion.
For all the anxiety, Negre assured that the highway remains “passable.” (JGA)
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