By Perla Lena/PNA
ILOILO CITY — Some PHP350 million worth of road projects will be implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) on Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan this year, said Engr. Al Fruto, Assistant Regional Director for Western Visayas.
In a phone interview Thursday, Fruto said the contractor for the second phase of the road network project on the island has already started mobilizing equipment for the PHP300-million project that stretches to some 3.3 kilometers.
The two-section two-lane project will be a continuation of the first phase of their road project now substantially completed, he said. The fund for the project was taken from an augmentation fund in 2018.
The first section covers the road from the Elizalde property and passes through the Ambassador Hotel towards the City Mall. The first phase that stretches some 4.12 kilometers, on the other hand, covers road area from the Cagban Port to Elizalde, including the missing gap in Bulabog.
The other section will be from the Tambisaan Port up to the Rotonda. Unlike the first phase, the succeeding project does not demand a “very early completion”, Fruto said.
“The dynamics now is different because we could no longer close streets. During the time of rehabilitation we closed streets but now we have to maintain all the time that the two lanes will be passable,” he said.
Fruto added their road rehabilitation program of around 12 to 15 kilometers of road network, are almost halfway finished.
He added that under the 2019 General Appropriations Act, they have proposed an additional PHP50 million “for the road (which is less than a kilometer) encircling the lagoon” in Barangay Balabag.
To complement the road project, the DPWH is looking forward to making the roads pedestrian-friendly with wider sidewalks.
