PHP200-M outlay sought for new Southern Leyte road network

MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte, March 9 (PNA) -- About PHP200 million outlay is needed to finance a five-year opening activities of an alternative road from Liloan to San Ricardo town in this province. The project is designed to cut travel time and skip road sections vulnerable to landslides and accidents.

The construction of Liloan-San Ricardo Circumferential Road will reduce the distance from Liloan port to another exit point to Mindanao in San Ricardo town from more than 40 kilometers to only 20 kilometers.

“The road opening is needed to ensure that land transportation would not be disrupted with landslides, road slips, and accidents,” said Department of Public Works and Highways Southern Leyte District Engineering Office (DPWH-SLDEO) District Engineer Ma. Margarita C. Junia.

The project will convert an existing provincial road into a primary highway, unlocking economic activities in rural communities of two towns in the southernmost part of Southern Leyte Island.

Of the PHP200-million proposed outlay, PHP40 million is for 2016, PHP48 million for 2017, PHP40 million for 2018, PHP49 million for 2019, and PHP23 million for 2020. The new road would have four bridges.

For the 2016 allocation, the project will open about 1.70 kilometers of gravel road. Other civil works include roadway excavation of hard rocks, installation of drainage system, and slope protection works.

This year’s activities will proceed within this month after the DPWH-SLDEO recently completed the bidding process.

Presently, the road is passable to some four-wheel cars and motorcycles except for the two-kilometer section that requires blasting of rocks, according to Junia.

Through the new road network, motorists can reach San Ricardo town from Liloan town without traversing the landslide-prone and accident-prone road sections in San Francisco and Pintuyan towns.

The DPWH pushed for safer alternative road to San Ricardo after noting that more buses and rolling cargoes use the Benit port in San Ricardo town instead of nearby Liloan port considering the former’s proximity to Surigao.

The route is being serviced by Montenegro Shipping Lines Inc. using a roll-on roll-off vessel, which makes four round trips daily.

Sea travel from San Ricardo to Lipata port in Surigao del Norte takes an hour, way shorter compared to more than three hours of travel time through Liloan port.

Although Benit port is closer to Surigao, some motorists prefer to take the Liloan port despite irregular trips, considering the difficulty in maneuvering along the “saddle road” in Pintuyan town. (PNA)

JBP/SQM/DPWH SOUTHERN LEYTE-PR