Capas-Botolan DPWH road project to meet deadline

TARLAC: The Department of Public Works and Highways ( DPWH)

- meter (km) Capas-Botolan road project, which connects the provinces of Tarlac and Zambales, will

Highways Secretary Mark Villar, during his recent visit to the site, said the road project is one of the department’s priorities. “We will complete this project

- torists but it is foreseen to create a positive impact on the local economies of the two provinces,” he said.

Villar made the announcement in the wake of several setbacks the project suffered including accessibility, the torching of construction equipment by armed men recently, and series of monsoon rains.

Roseller Tolentino, DPWH regional director, also disclosed that with the P800 million released in recent years, they were already able to complete the concreting of about 15.87 kms out of the total road length.

The fund allocated for the infrastructure programs under which the Capas-Botolan Road is being built was P138.413 million in 2016 and P129.615 million in 2017.

For 2018, DPWH allotted P550.3 million for the concreting of 10.085- km of road and construction of the 108.6 linear meter bridge structure.

“We are confident that our engineers will meet the deadline to finish this P5.91- billion project even before 2022. This will eventually reduce travel time between the two provinces to just a little over one hour,” Tolentino said.

The Capas-Botolan Road will also connect Zambales to economic hubs in Tarlac, as well as in Pampanga where the Bases Conversion and Development Authority is constructing an extension of the Clark Special Economic Zone and the New Clark City project in Tarlac. These hubs are envisioned to become the focal point of economic development in the country in the next few years.

Prior to the road construction, motorists had to pass through the provinces of Bataan, Pampanga, and even Pangasinan to travel to travel to and from Tarlac to Zambales since the two areas are separated by mountainous terrain.

The project involves creating a concrete paving of carriageway 11 inches thick with 2.5 meter shoulder on both sides, construction of a stone masonry wall with line canal on the mountain side of the road to serve as slope protection and drainage and provision of a metal beam guardrail on the cliff side for road safety.