- CHERYL G. CRUZ
More road constructions are in the pipeline in Bacolod City, after the Department of Public Works and Highways Bacolod District Engineering Office said Monday it awarded more than P240 million in projects in March.
As per the post-contract award disclosure of the DPWH Bacolod DEO Bids and Awards Committee, the biggest contract awarded, at P95 million, is for the construction of a concrete road at Hernaez Street leading to Murcia proper and Mambukal Resort in the town.
Another is for the construction of a concrete road at Hilado Street, worth P47 million, also leading to Mambukal Resort, the DPWH said.
Contracts have also been awarded for the construction/rehabilitation/improvement of the drainage system, also at Hilado Street, the put up of a solar water system, and for road asphalt overlay, the BAC said.
Eight contracts, worth more than P730 million, and all part of the Bacolod Negros Occidental Economic Highway (BANOCEH) mega project, have also been awarded by the DPWH Regional Office 6 BAC for the month of March.
These road projects crisscross the highly-urbanized Bacolod and neighboring areas, like Talisay and Victorias in Negros Occidental.
BANOCEH is a 49-kilometer infrastructure project, with total funding of P7.9 billion, under the “Build, Build, Build” program of then president Rodrigo Duterte. It aims to help lessen traffic volume in coastal road, and will serve as an alternative route from southern to northern Negros, and vice versa.
The project started in 2017 and is expected to be finished next year.
The National Economic and Development Authority in the region earlier said that BANOCEH is one of the 10 projects identified as part of the Infrastructure Flagship Projects (IFPs) of the national government in Western Visayas./CGC
