By Ben Cal/PNA
MANILA — After almost six decades on the drawing board, the Katipunan Avenue extension project that will ease traffic in the area going to Batasan and San Mateo, Rizal, will finally push through.
This, after the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) on Thursday. Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar signed on behalf of DPWH, while Administrator Rey Velasco signed for MWSS.
The signing was held at the MWSS head office in Balara, Quezon City.
The project will cost PHP90 million. In an interview after the signing ceremony, Velasco said the road project was planned way back in 1960, but suffered many delays due to right-of-way problem, since many of the land areas are owned by private individuals.
Velasco said that after many negotiations failed over the years, the government under President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s “Build, Build Program” program finally was able to convince private owners, whose lands are affected by the road construction, to sell their properties.
Roselle Agustin of DPWH said that the government bought the land ranging from as much as PHP9,900 to PHP40,000 per square meter, depending on the location of the land.
Agustin said the construction will last for 10 months.
With the worsening traffic congestion in Metro Manila, such as on Katipunan Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue, both in Quezon City, Villar revived the road extension project which has been in the doldrums for 58 years.
It aims to decongest traffic in the area, including the Batasan-San Mateo Road with a total length of 7.11 kilometers.
The extension will start at the corner of Katipunan Avenue and MWSS properties passing through Loyola Grand Villas, the properties owned by the Government Service Insurance System, the Armed Forces of the Philippines Mutual Benefit Association, Inc., Capitol Homes, Vista Real Subdivision, and Filinvest Northview Subdivision with a total length of 5.76 kilometers.
When the project will be completed in 10 months, traffic along Katipunan Avenue will be decongested, as well as along nearby major thoroughfares, not to mention the economic boom in these areas, Velasco said.
