Secretary of Public Works and Highways Rogelio L. Singson together with Mr. Yonesawa from the Embassy of Japan to the Philippines, Toll Regulatory Board Executive Director Edmund Reyes, and Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation President Ramoncito Fernandez led the inaugural drive thru to open the NLEX New Balagtas Interchange link to newly built 6.87-kilometer portion of Plaridel By-Pass Road in Bulacan.
The new by-pass road constructed by the DPWH is funded under loan agreement between the Governments of the Philippines and Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
According to Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Rafael C. Yabut, the opened road facility is part of 24-kilometer Plaridel By-pass Road which will significantly reduce travel time in the eastern towns of Bulacan specifically Plaridel, Bustos, and San Rafael, as well as to the province of Nueva Ecija, and Cagayan Valley Region through the Cagayan Valley Road.
Aside from the first portion of the bypass road, the 2.4-kilometer access road to downtown Plaridel, which is part of contract package 1, is now open to traffic and will be very useful in the coming Holy Week where influx of motorists bound to provinces are expected.
Because of the serious traffic congestions from Sta. Rita Exit in Guiguinto, Bulacan, towards Plaridel through the Daang Maharlika Highway or Old Cagayan Road; the opening of Plaridel By-Pass and Access Road will cut travel time and lessen fuel consumption.
Secretary Singson is also pushing the joint venture contractors group of C.M. Pancho Construction Inc./J.E Manalo & Co./D.M. Consunji, Inc., undertaking contract package 2, to complete their contracted project the soonest possible time with progress of work presently at 49 percent.
“We have to take advantage of the good weather condition now prevailing in most parts of country,” Singson said following his inspection at the ongoing 7.78-km Bulihan, Plaridel, to Bustos section under contract package 2.
Loan agreement for the funding for the second phase of the project of about 9.96 kilometers from Bustos to San Rafael, Bulacan, also under JICA is expected to be signed by the end of March or early part of April 2012.
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