SO near yet so far.

This may well be the case as even Dagupan Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. could not say when the Dawel-Pantal Road will finally be opened.

The much-awaited highway, now in the final stages of construction and earlier announced to be completed by March 15, passes through Pantal and Poblacion Oeste, with a long bridge in the middle.

Fernandez told The PUNCH that the project will still have to be turned over by the contractors to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

“Until such time can we request the DPWH to schedule the inauguration and the opening,” Fernandez said.

Preparations for the inauguration are also still tentative and it is still uncertain whether President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former

House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., both instrumental in the realization of the project but now estranged political allies, would agree to be together in cutting the ceremonial ribbon.

De Venecia told newsmen during the Holy Week break that out of protocol, Arroyo must be invited for the inauguration.

Fernandez said that at this stage, the bridge costing P906 million, is still undergoing the “curing stage” and until that is completed, the contractors, Toyo Construction, cannot yet turn it over to the DPWH.

“I am told there is a need to observe curing period as well as the time for the completion of the road shoulders, including the putting of signage and landscaping, especially around the main intersection,” the mayor said.

Asked if the new road can be opened in time for the 2008 Dagupan Bangus Festival, which is expected to be mobbed by a banner crowd, Fernandez simply said “we will look forward to that.”

Fernandez said upon the highway’s opening, he will immediately recommend to the city council headed by Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez to consider amendments to the city’s existing zoning ordinance.

“There is a need toidentify the proper uses of the area alongside the new road, whether it will be made residential, commercial, industrial, for eco-tourism or for any other purposes that the council may deem important,” he said.

At the same time, he said, he will request the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to re-route some of the franchised public utility vehicles to ease vehicular traffic in the downtown area.

“With the Dawel-Lucao Road, there is a need to create new routes that will reduce traffic density very greatly in the city’s downtown area,” Fernandez said.—LM

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