Daang Kalikasan soon shortest route to Zambales
LINGAYEN–Construction of the Daang Kalikasan linking the province of Pangasinan to Zambales is now in full swing.
In his update to the local newsmen, Second District Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil said that the work started by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) last year on the Pangasinan side continues while the construction of the Zambales side from Sta. Cruz town has also started.
Initiated by Bataoil in 2012, Daang Kalikasan is a 54-kilometer multi-year (five years) project that starts from Mangatarem town across mountainous areas and ends in Sta, Cruz, Zambales.
The objective of DPWH is to have both ends of the highway meet in the middle by 2021, he added.
He revealed that the Daang Kalikasan used to be an old logging road carved by illegal loggers to allow their heavy-duty trucks to pass across mountainous terrains and forested areas.
But because the illegal loggers are long gone, they have abandoned the road and is now being widened, improved and maximized to provide the shortest link from Pangasinan to Zambales and vice versa.
He personally calls this Daang Kalikasan because the road will pass across mountains and pockets of virgin forests which need to be protected more once the highway is built.
Once completed, it will be the shortest road to Zambales, he added.
Bataoil said he expects the construction of the road to reach the upland of Mangatarem this year and down towards to Sta. Cruz, Zambales next year.
He said completion of this road will hasten not only travel but also trade and tourism in the two provinces and if the area is declared as part of the economic zones in Pangasinan, both sides of the highway can be tapped for eco-tourism projects since the highway is very scenic. (Leonardo Micua)
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