Counterpart fund lack may derail Aurora road project

BALER, Aurora — The road to progress in this province — listed as one of the country’s 20 poorest — may ground to a halt almost literally as work on the foreign-assisted Baler-San Luis-Ma. Aurora Road is feared to be hampered due to the lack of government counterpart funds.

Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo said the lack of government counterpart funds would surely affect the vital road project which is expected to boost Aurora’s economy when completed.

Angara told The STAR that funding from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JIBC) amounting to P527 million is ready for release but the national government’s failure to cough up a counterpart fund might derail the entire project.

"The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) says it has no money so we might see a slowdown in the construction," she said, adding that the government still owes P49 million to the contractor.

The road, a vital link between Nueva Ecija and this province, is funded under the 22nd yen loan of the JBIC under the Arterial Road Links Development Program, which has four packages worth a total of P2.2 billion.

Package 1 is the 23-kilometer, P494-million Bongabon-Pantabangan Road in Nueva Ecija, while Package 2 involves the 29-kilometer, P618-million Pantabangan-Canili (Aurora) Road.

Package 3 involves the 25-kilometer, P464-million Canili-Basal Road in Aurora, and Package 4, the Baler-Ma. Aurora-San Luis portion worth P567 million.

In turn, the Baler-Ma. Aurora-San Luis has three packages: a 10.9-kilometer road, all-weather concrete bridges, a 30-kilometer road in Baler and another 10-kilometer portion in Nueva Ecija.

The bridges are the 144.53-linear meter Baubo bridge, the 152-linear meter Diaap bridge, the 160.25-linear meter Malupa bridge, the 302.22-linear meter Ma. Aurora bridge and the 308.42 -linear meter Diteki bridge.

Castillo negotiated the project’s Aurora portion when she was still a congress—woman. Her brother, Sen. Edgardo Angara, helped her.

The Angaras, together with Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, have asked the DBM to release P45 million this year for the road concreting project.

Engineer Medel Chua, Aurora district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways, said travel between the capital town and Metro Manila would be shortened by two hours from the present four to six hours once the road network is completed.

He said Metro Manilans would surely make the province their tourism destination because of wind-surfing in Baler, where the first known international surfing competition in the country was held.