Cojuangco proposes, SP objects to amend route
TPLEX, NEW BATTLEGROUND
LINGAYEN– The Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) reiterated its support, through a resolution, to the original route of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx) Section 3, from Urdaneta City to Rosario, La Union.
Provincial resolution no. 1241-2015 reiterated the Board’s conformity with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)-approved original route of the TPLEx Section 3 “and strongly urged the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the private contractors to fast track and expedite the completion of the expressway at the earliest time possible.”
The resolution came after a proposal to reroute TPLEx Urdaneta-Rosario section surfaced.
According to Board Member Alfonso Bince Jr., the proposal to amend the route as submitted by former Rep. Mark Cojuangco to pass through Sison town, is “impractical, dilatory, onerous, and burdensome to the riding public.”
Cojuangco is seeking a change in the direction of the highway, specifically to make it cut across the Poblacion of Sison and separate 14 of its barangays from the rest, a proposition opposed by Cordillera leaders led by Rep. Ronald Cosalan, chairman of the public works committee in the House of Representatives.
Bince added the proposal will increase the highway length by 3.15 kilometers from the original 1.48 kms. and its cost by 42.1%.
However, in a briefing earlier before officials of Dagupan City that included Mayor Belen Fernandez, Cojuangco said that his proposal provides for the construction of a shorter bridge across the Bued River, which does not cost any more than the original route.
Cojuangco pointed out that the realignment of the highway will skirt downtown Rosario, La Union which everybody, he said, knows has become a bottleneck causing traffic jams.
The resolution also decried an inevitable delay in the completion of Section 3 since it will require another study of NEDA which can take another three years, that will result in additional costs to motorists.
The resolution stated, “The SP firmly believes that the original route is a better way in going to Baguio and the whole of Cordillera Region from the southern area.”
The TPLEx is a public-private partnership project funded by Private infrastructure Development Corporation (PIDC) through the Build-Transfer-Operate scheme under BOT Law. It covers 88.85 kilometers from Tarlac City to Rosario, La Union. (Johanne Macob/Leonardo Micua)
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