THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials led by Secretary Mark Villar conducted an ocular inspection of the Capas-Botolan Road project on Thursday to check on the progress of 81.63-kilometer east-west artery that will connect Capas, Tarlac and Botolan, Zambales.
“This road project is one of our priorities that’s why we are relentless in our construction activities despite the several setbacks, like accessibility, the recent torching of a construction equipment owned by the contractor by armed men on June 23, 2018, and of course, the recent month-long inclement weather that centered in Central Luzon,” Villar said.
“But we at the agency is bent in completing this road that will benefit not only the motorists but is foreseen to create a positive impact in the local economies of the two provinces,” he added.
Villar said that once completed, the road will pave the way for more tourist visits, especially sports adventure enthusiasts as he tagged the Capas-Botolan Road Project to be Zambales’ best marketing and an ideal locale for various adventures and tourism activities.
DPWH Regional Director Roseller Tolentino said that the regional office is pursuing the implementation of the Capas-Botolan Road without let up.
With the P800 million released in 2017 and prior years, the DPWH regional office was able to complete the concreting of some 15.87 kilometers of the 81.63 kilometers total road length.
For this year, the concreting of 10.085 km of roads and construction of 108.6 linear meters of a bridge structure using the release of P550.3 million was undertaken.
“We are confident that our engineers will meet the deadline to
finish this P5.91 billion project even before 2022 that will eventually reduce travel time between Zambales and Tarlac to just a little over one hour,” Tolentino said.
Villar is enthusiastic in checking the progress of the strategic Build Build Build projects of the Duterte administration that are seen to boost regional growth and expansion until 2022 and beyond.