The dilapidated road condition along the stretch of Daang Maharlika Highway between Pulilan to Baliuag will soon be a thing of the past
District Engineer Ruel Angeles of the Bulacan First Engineering District Office said the Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) will take over the construction on the said highway also known as Dona Remedios Trinidad (DRT) highway spanning the towns of Pulilan and Baliuag.
It was learned the deformation and dilapidation has again re-appeared on the stretch of DRT highway a few months after it was rehabilitated early last year.
Angeles said the DPWH has allotted P100 million for the said roadway’s rehabilitation through the initiative of Bulacan Second District Representative Congressman Gavini “Apol” Pancho.
Central Luzon DPWH regional director Antonio Molano explained the P5 billion Cagayan-Bulacan road project is under the long term performance based maintenance of contractor, EC De Luna, who is responsible for the maintenance of the vital roadway from 2015 to 2020.
Recently, the contractor returned to DPWH the full responsibility on the construction of Pulilan-Baliuag highway that will start in the middle of 2018.
Other highways with the same problems in Bulacan are located at the Manila North Road in the towns of Guiguinto, Plaridel and in Barangay Dakila in the City of Malolos but Engr. Angeles said that repairs are now being conducted.
Angeles announced the 10-kilometer Pulilan-Baliuag Diversion Road is now being paved by the DPWH and will be completed this year.
The new road if completed will divert flow of traffic in Daang Maharlika using a new road that starts at Pulilan-Calumpit Road in Barangay Tibag, Pulilan near North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and ends in Daang Maharlika in Barangay Tarcan, Baliuag, Bulacan, traversing Pulilan Barangays namely: Tabon, Penabatan, Sta. Peregrina, and Balatong B.
The funds from the DPWH Infrastructure Program amount to P582 Million for civil works and P150 Million for Road Right of Way acquisition.
Meanwhile, nine more road rehabilitation projects in Bulacan will be funded this year under the Road Leveraging Linkages for Industry and Trade convergence program of Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the DPWH.
DTI Region 3 assistant director and Bulacan director Zorina Aldana said it composed the rehab of dilapidated Mabolo-Sto. Cristo Diversion Road; two in Balagtas town namely the Santol-Bintog Provincial Road and the Balagtas-Pandi Provincial Road; complete rehabilitation of Matungao-Guiguinto Provincial Road; three rehabilitation projects in Sta Maria town namely Santa Maria-San Jose Road connecting Bagong Buhay Avenue, Santa Maria-Pandi Road connecting Pandi-Balagtas Road and the Balasing-San Jose Road connecting Norzagaray-San Jose Road; the Bahay Pare-Perez City Road in Meycauayan City and the rehab of Umpucan-Alagao Road in San Ildefonso. –Eloisa Silverio