Transcentral Highway repair starts next month

The Department of Public Works and Highways has assured that repairs of the badly damaged portions of the Transcentral Highway will start next month.

DPWH undersecretary Manuel Bonoan made the assurance yesterday to Cebu third district Rep. Pablo John Garcia, who made a personal follow-up on the complaints of businessman Roberto Aboitiz.

Garcia told The Freeman that Bonoan assured him that the repair, widening and reenforcement of about 100-meter stretch along barangay Gaas in Balamban will start in the middle of May.

Garcia said that the side of the damaged portion of the highway will be widened and the portion that has caved in will be reenforced.

He said the P15 million budget for the program of work has already been approved for release. According to him, he asked the DPWH to simplify the procurement to dispense with the usual public biding because of the urgency of the situation.

He explained that immediate repair is necessary because the situation has posed danger to the public.

The lawmaker, whose district the damaged section of the highway belongs, said that patch-up work for the damaged road is the only remedy because of its alleged design defect.

To repair the defect, Garcia said, the DPWH has estimated that it will cost P1 billion because it needs to be redesigned. Garcia also dispels suspicions that the DPWH’s failure to maintain the highway has caused its present situation.

Garcia said the portion of the highway inside the third district is being maintained by the 3rd DPWH engineering district after his assumption to office.

In fact, Garcia said he ordered DPWH to maintain a task force to immediately respond to minor problems especially during rainy season.

Aboitiz earlier made a request to DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane for the immediate repair of the highway after noting that some portions of it in Balamban have collapsed.

Aboitiz expressed concern over the worsening condition of the road because he is using it frequently, having business interest in Balamban where his shipbuilding company is situated.

Aboitiz is the chairman of the Cebu Industrial Park Developers Inc., which developed the area where the province’s shipbuilding industry is located. — Fred P. Languido/LPM