Catarman-Calbayog road via Lope de Vega road section already 94% complete

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
February 21, 2007

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte  –  The Catarman-Calbayog Road via Lope de Vega Road Section which is under the arterial road link development project, Phase V, of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is already 94 percent complete as of January 25, 2007.

This was reported by the Project Monitoring Committee during the Regional Development meeting last week.

The project which is under the supervision of the Department of Public Works and Highways consist of the improvement and upgrading of at 68.30 kilometers of road connecting Northern Samar and Samar provinces.

With this road construction with the original budget of P621.279 Million and revised to P 643.720 Million, commuters will be able to save about two hours traveling time from Tacloban to Catarman.

The Project Monitoring Committee reported that the occurrence of heavy rains which resulted to flash floods, brought severe damage to the project as well as to the plant and equipment of the contractor.

The Project started on May 31, 2004 and was supposed to be completed in May of 2006. However, because of the aforementioned reasons, the date of completion was reset to October 15, 2006.

Later, it was again reset to December 29, 2006. Unfortunately, in December particularly on the very same date, 29th, several Northern Samar municipalities, including Lope de Vega suffered flash floods once more, and so the date of completion has been further reset to April 25, 2007.