Philippines road improvement project nearing completion

The Philippines Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has announced that its 109km road improvement project in Camarines Su is nearing completion.

Nearly 89% of the pavement rehabilitation and repair works have been completed along the Sipocot-Baao stretch of Maharlika Highway in Camarines Sur, Region 5.

The maintenance contract undertaken for the road section covers repair works of pavement, drainage improvement, bridge structure maintenance works, and asphalt overlay.

Launched in November 2015, the project budget is approximately PHP2.272bn ($42m). It is funded by the Government of the Philippines (GOP) and Government of Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The UPMO Roads Management Cluster 1 (UPMO – RMC 1) implemented the upgrading, improvement and asset preservation of the road works.

Unified Project Management Office (UPMO) Operations and Technical Services undersecretary Emil Sadain said: “The DPWH continuously conducts road improvement and maintenance works in Region 5, not only to allow faster transportation within Bicol Region, but more importantly to keep national roads and bridges safe for motorists and commuters.”

Additionally, repairing of bridge, drainage and slope protection works were recently carried out along the 5.31km Viga-Bagamanoc Section and 16.16km Bacak-Minaile Section of the Catanduanes Circumferential Road, costing PHP287.9m ($5.36m) and PHP583.56m ($10.85m) respectively.

In the previous years, DPWH UPMO-RMC 1 completed a number of major projects in Bicol Region along Daang Maharlika.

This included re-blocking and drainage improvement on the 13.8km Vinzons-Talisay-Daet section, the 11.69km Basud stretch, and the 7.98km Oas-Paulug Section of Daang Maharlika in Ligao City.

These cost of  these improvements was PHP72.88m ($1.36m), PHP129.9m ($2.42m) and PHP98.78m ($1.84m) respectively.