3 towns hold joint session on Megadike toll road

Monday, February 6, 2012

PORAC -- The Municipal Councils of Sta. Rita, Bacolor and this town met Monday at the Porac Session Hall to discuss the endorsement of a joint resolution that will push for the proposed construction of a toll road on the west lateral portion of the FVR Megadike here.

Filed by Porac Councilor Mike Tapang, the proposed toll road will serve as an alternative route for sand haulers in Pampanga.

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The joint session, which was presided over by Vice Mayors Dexter David (Porac), Homobono Guanlao (Sta. Rita) and lawyer Ananias Canlas (Bacolor) was aimed at arriving a formal stand on the said proposal for the respective constituents of the concerned towns.

Tapang filed the resolution before the Porac Municipal Council in November last year. The resolution aims to transform a 16-kilometer portion of the dike into a world-class toll road for all types of vehicles.

The project traverses some 10 kilometers in Porac, two kilometers in Sta. Rita town and four kilometers in Bacolor.

The purpose of the project is to become an alternative route for commercial vehicles, particularly quarry trucks, and private vehicles, which traverse the area going to Manila. The route is also seen to connect the third district of Pampanga with the Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressway (SCTEx) through the Porac Interchange in Barangay Cangatba here.

Tapang has been moving for the project since last year, which is expected to bring additional income to the government and the prospective builder, with an impressive number of almost 2,000 trucks coming into Pampanga’s second district.

The project is seen to improve the traffic situation in the concerned towns. The project will be constructed on build-operate-transfer scheme under a private-public partnership.

During the session, the proposal received positive responses from members of the Municipal Council of each town. The councilors said the project would greatly help the said towns and provide benefits in terms of improvement of realty value and bring in additional revenue to the said towns.

"This project will help our townmates, particularly those who engage in agricultural production. With the road in place they can have easy access to major trade areas," Councilor Renato Gopez of Sta. Rita said.

However, Vice Mayor Ananias Canlas said the project should have a feasibility study first so that the councilors would be guided accordingly in approving the endorsement.

Porac Councilor Ludivico Muli also shared the same sentiments, adding that the concerns on the sharing of revenue, the terms of transfer of the project once completed and the specifics of the project in terms of safety are things that should have been presented to the joint session.

Tapang, for his part, said the resolution is merely an endorsement and that studies would be conducted upon approval of the endorsement and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

The councilors in the joint session, however, decided to forward the resolution to the joint committee that will be composed of the chairmen of the laws, public works and environment committees of the said three town councils for review.

Tapang said he will wait of the formation of the said committee. He is still optimistic that the three town councils will look favorably on the said endorsement soon.