Sanchez wants Trans-Axial Highway prioritized

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu Provincial Board Member Grecilda Sanchez has suggested expediting the P50-billion Trans-Axial Highway project of the province by making it a priority while Governor Hilario Davide is in office.

Sanchez made the suggestion as she pointed out the situation of transportation in southern Cebu after infrastructure like bridges were damaged by recent calamities.

She cited the Dumlog Bridge in Sibonga town, which became impassable after it collapsed following flashfloods at the height of tropical depression Seniang.

The Department of Public Works and Highways has assured it will install a temporary steel bridge that can accommodate vehicles weighing up to 20 tons.

Pending the installation of the steel bridge, buses and trucks are using the diversion route in Barangay Lindogon.

Light vehicles can only use the detour route from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily while large trucks can pass from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Sanchez said had the Trans-Axial Highway project been approved in 2004, this would have been serviceable by now and situations like the one in Sibonga where many passengers were left stranded could have been prevented.

“Nagamit na unta ‘tong connection to each municipality. It only takes around seven years to build it,” Sanchez added.

It was Sanchez’s father, the late Vice Governor Gregorio Sanchez, who first proposed the 300-kilometer Trans-Axial Highway from Santander to Daanbantayan to stimulate economic activities. — (FREEMAN)