A ‘Build Build Build’ project for the north

THOSE biding their time or gnashing their teeth, waiting for the day in 2022 when the Davao

- ly over, can at least look forward to all the “Build Build Build” projects that they can then take credit for after Duterte goes his merry, profane and invectivestrewn way back to his hometown.

At least, by then, they will not be accused of Imperial Manila always neglecting the Visayas-Mindanao road network and force-feeding half the country on the notion that the RoRo Nautical highway was

highway and suspension bridge or underwater road tunnel network connecting the principal Viz-Min islands will put to shame the network of Oresund-like bridges spanning Denmark, Norway and Sweden, or to take from our master-neighbor China -- the network of bridges linking Guangzhou, Macao, Zhuhai and Hong Kong. By then, also, the hopefully more environmentally-compliant and -conscious resort islands of Boracay, Panglao, Siargao, Siquijor, Mactan and Coron Bay will be up and thriving.

So before all this build-build-build goes away as the Yellow Morality’s worse nightmare, we would like to pitch one more big project. We need not touch on presently pursued unsolicited proposals like all those tollways in Bicol, Southern Tagalog and Central Lu-

and even ECO-Toll of R-11 Builders are keeping the

the north. No, not the Rosario to Pagudpud tollway as that is a done deal for so long as the Danding Cojuangco and Ramon S. Ang tandem control San Miguel. We refer to an-all weather alpine-like tollway to Baguio City.

Former Public Works Secretary Gregorio Vigilar was right. Much as we love Kennon Road, it cannot be an all-weather route. Not for anyone’s fault. It’s all due to our country’s location in the tropics and the way the earth’s tectonic plates created the soil and rocks that form the Cordilleras – the wettest part of the country bar none.

In fairness, Col. Lyman Kennon did not have as many scientific tools in 1900. After all, Kennon Road was a donkey trail with eight camps. With four- legged animal freighters, it was easy to maneuver to another route

erased a previous trail. All throughout Kennon Road’s existence, it has had changes in alignment every time Nature decided to make engineers conform to its whims. Scientists tell us that it is geologically unstable. Even if it were stable, the

cool mountain air and warm sea winds making all those clouds at mile-high elevation -- the Baguio fog so enchanting to Igorots and lowlanders alike.

Still, the government ladled money on Kennon to make it safer and a bit more durable. The road has been widened in areas, providing overtaking space for light vehicles wherever smoky and crawling buses and trucks tend to stall. Some areas have also been armored in concrete to limit erosion damage and landslides.

But if we seriously want to make an all-weather road to Baguio, there are options. For its money’s worth, JICA decided to fund Marcos Highway instead as it is more geologically stable. Yes, Marcos Highway does get its annual dose of wash-outs in some two to three critical sections but that’s the weather’s fault, not its geological composition. It is scenic too, but in a different manner. To romantics and sentimentalists, however, it is not Kennon.

A case in point: rich Switzerland has plenty of alpine roads leading to ski resort cities that are only open six months of the year when, ironically, the snow comes. Every year, unusual weather like heavy rain or avalanches caused by excess snow shuts down these alpine highways. And just like our DPWH crews, they

and when the weather improves, plot another road alignment to avoid the new change in topography. This is routine for the DPWH ever since it took charge of Kennon Road.

But Baguio is no longer just a six-months-of-theyear resort city. It is the hub of economic activity of the Cordilleras so it deserves all-weather access. If one really wanted one and not give Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez nightmares looking for funds, then the government should encourage or include a new Kennon Road in “Build Build Build”. It’s not an impossibility as critical mountain expressways in Italy, Japan, the Basque country in Spain and Switzerland have been built. Soaring expressways crossing valleys with villages 1,600 meters below, tunnels burrowing through 20 kilometers of mountains. These expressways are protected from wind, snow, ice and landslides. They are designed so that trucks can take the incline at ease and the curves are as wide as any expressway on the plains.

This all-weather road, however, will take away the romance of narrow, bumpy and winding Kennon – a small price to pay for having that all-important access. Put to a study, this road may well be a Skyway with the pillar foundations embedded on the Bued River, the way the NAIAx and Skyway Stage 3 divert to rivers to avoid costly road right of way acquisition. It will be just as scenic without the drama of blind curves and vehicles stalling when failing to make the steep climb. If it takes the river’s path, the DPWH would not need to fund any right or way acquisition, though I wonder what the DENR and environmentalists would say.

We can go further and widen the remit of “Build Build Build” to include all other paths along other parts of the Cordilleras. Perhaps a brand-new route between Nueva Vizcaya and Pangasinan, between Kennon and Ambuklao? Perhaps the completion of Baguio’s ring road into expressway standards so

business district? These will cost but for so long as we allow investors a reasonable rate of return, they and Baguio’s fans can dream.

In the meantime there is another dilemma. As the journey to Baguio has eased by combined expressways -- NLEx-SCTEx-TPLEx – the city itself is reeling from CBD congestion. Parking demand during peak season triples the existing parking spaces, counting both le-

planners wanted to build pay parking buildings but it seems that there are two major no-nos for Baguio voters that virtually guarantee electoral defeat: allowing casinos and ending free on street parking in the CBD. Because of this parking shortage and pass-through

CBD, queues can start as far as the Kennon Road Black Mountain toll gate before the zig-zag. That queue can take an hour and a half before one gets to the Baguio General Hospital rotunda. Indeed, all the time one saved by zipping through the central plains tollways, compared to a 60% (by distance) journey on the slowmoving Manila North Road (MacArthur Highway), is lost to the Kennon Road delay.

- ronmental revolution going on in Boracay to clean up Baguio if only the local government takes the initiative and coopt the DENR into drastic hygiene and ecological measures. Baguio retains the charms of a small city -- a new artisanal restaurants, crafts stores, craft beer breweries, art galleries and BnB, etc. are always worth the journey. And perhaps, just maybe, the current administration’s dislike for “oligarchs” will

highway and cleaner city would be the newest township at the city limits along the Ambuklao Highway. Baguio Highlands combines the sense of community of Tagaytay Highlands and the variety of experiences of Balesin island on a unique perch overseeing the highest of Baguio’s scenic and vertiginous promontories. Perhaps being a project and dream come true of a man named Roberto V. Ongpin shouldn’t be a problem anymore.