City dads: Why the delay in opening Dawel-Lucao Road?
Open sesame!
This was the call made last week by members of the Dagupan City council who, like the rest of the citizenry in the city, have become excited yet anxious over the continued delay in the opening of the Dawel-Pantal-Lucao Road to the vehicular traffic.
Councilor Jose Netu Tamayo, in a privilege speech, sought an explanation from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) why the new road has not yet been opened despite the completion of the bridge-road project.
Tamayo noted that it was opened last April 30 when most of A.B. Fernandez Avenue and part of Burgos Street were closed to give way to the ‘Bangusan Street Party’ during the Dagupan Bangus Festival.
But the highway was again closed the following day with no explanation from either the DPWH or the contractor of the project.
On motion of Tamayo, the city council passed a resolution asking DPWH categorically to explain why the planned inauguration and opening of the project has been delayed for too long.
“I hope the reason is not politics,” Tamayo said, citing rumors that the DPWH seems in a quandary on whether they will invite both President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. for the occasion.
Arroyo and De Venecia were the closest of political allies until their relationship soured when De Venecia’s son and namesake, Jose de Venecia III, turned whistle-blower in the controversial NBN-ZTE deal and implicated First Gentleman Mike Arroyo.
Arroyo and De Venecia worked in tandem for the construction of the P1.2 billion landmark project in Dagupan.
The bridge component was financed from a P906 million soft loan obtained by the Philippine government from Japan through the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
The road component, measuring more than four kilometers, was financed solely from De Venecia’s Priority Development Assistance Fund.
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