(File photo courtesy of DPWH)
MANILA – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is looking to operate a portion of the expressway in Central Luzon at the connection of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX)/Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) in Tarlac City, Tarlac up to San Juan, Aliaga, Nueva Ecija toward the first half of 2023.
In his report to Secretary Manuel Bonoan, Senior Undersecretary Emil Sadain said the DPWH Unified Project Management Office - Roads Management Cluster 1 (DPWH UPMO RMC 1) is working to complete an additional 7-kilometer segment from Guimba-Aliaga Road intersection to San Juan Interchange that will extend to 25 kilometers the already accessible 18-kilometer section of the Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEX).
“The DPWH UPMO RMC 1 team with the contractors and consultants have worked hard to overcome challenges along the way, such as bad weather, right of way issues, difficulty in the transport of construction materials and Covid-19 impact that caused some delays,” he said.
Other than the four-lane, two-way expressway with a design speed of 100 kilometers per hour, the DPWH is also undertaking the construction of three interchanges – Zaragoza, Aliaga, and San Juan that will allow motorists from the secondary and provincial roads to access CLLEX.
Once completed, the 30-kilometer CLLEX Project will facilitate fast, safe, comfortable and reliable means of transport in Central Luzon as it forms an important east-west link for the expressway network of Region 3 to ensure a continuous and seamless traffic flow for motorists to and from Metro Manila, passing through NLEX, SCTEX/TPLEX.
This project is part of the government’s vision of easing traffic congestion and will shorten the usual travel time of 70 minutes between Tarlac City and Cabanatuan City to just 20 minutes.
The project is one of the key infrastructures with funding assistance from the Government of Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
It is included in the Luzon Spine Expressway Network projects aimed at reducing travel time from the northernmost part of Luzon, Ilocos, to the southern most part, Bicol, by over 50 percent via the construction of a high standard highway network.
During the inspection on Dec. 19, 2022, Sadain instructed the DPWH UPMO RMC 1 project supervision team of project engineers Manuel Monfort, Juancho Hernandez, and Albert Manuel and the contractors to put more resources in the project and accelerate their work.
The DPWH UPMO together with Nueva Ecjia First and Second District Engineering Offices are also continuously working on the processing of right-of-way claims.
Delayed reimbursement or payment of affected property is due to the difficulty of right-of-way claimants to comply with the documentary requirements and problems on establishing proof of ownership, among others.
The most common of these problems are the cancellations of encumbrance/s on the land titles and payment of corresponding estate taxes for the registered deceased landowners and the change of creditor’s name. (PNA)
