AS the campaign period heats up, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has had to clarify for the nth time that there was no over-spending in the construction of the Dawel-Pantal-Lucao road.

The clarification was made by Yolanda Tangco, the project engineer assigned by the DPWH to supervise the construction, in light of renewed accusations that the road project is anomalous.

The project, funded solely by the Priority Development Assistance Fund of House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., is being raised as a political issue by the camp of Dagupan Mayor Benjamin Lim who is running against De Venecia for the 4th district congressional seat.

Tangco said, had there been an anomaly, the Commission on Audit would have stopped the project by now or at least called the attention of the DPWH.

Denying Lim’s charges that the Dawel-Pantal-Lucao road is the “most expensive highway in the world” at only more than four kilometers, Tangco told newsmen that the base of the new road cost more than usual as it rests on soft land that used to be swamps and fishponds.

The acquisition of the road right-of-way was also a significant cost.

Aside from this, the new road was elevated to ensure that it will not be flooded.

It was also made wider, she said, because of the anticipated heavy traffic that would be created if vehicles going to Lingayen would be diverted to the new road.

On the issue raised again by Lim that the DPWH changed the plan that lengthened the new road from three kilometers to four kilometers, Tangco said they just followed the original design approved by then Secretary Simeon Datumanong.

The design was based on the feasibility study conducted by the Project Monitoring Office of the DPWH with the help of the agency’s Japanese consultant.

“We did not change the plan. The exit that we pursued was the original exit provided in the plan. And the actual length was still the same,” Tangco said.

She said the feasibility study conducted separately by the city was for the road to exist at Nel-Ars, but Tangco said this was not adopted because this will not solve the problem of congestion in that section.

Earlier, DPWH Regional Director Fidel Ginez has repeatedly explained that the project is above-board.

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