Phase 3 of multi-year Sultan Kudarat road concreting project nears completion

“The third phase of the P700-million, multi-year road concreting project in Lebak, Sultan Kudarat is set for completion within this year.”

This was announced by Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark Villar pertaining to the ongoing road construction under the Roads Leveraging Linkages of Industry and Trade (ROLL-IT) Program funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Citing a report from DPWH Region 12 Director Basir M. Ibrahim, Secretary Villar said that the project’s programmed civil works for 2020 includes the concreting of two (2) kilometers of road costing P28.7 million.

Secretary Villar added that a total of seven (7) kilometers of road was already paved under the P90-million Phase 1 in 2018 and P39.93-million Phase 2 in 2019 implemented by DPWH Regional Office 12 and DPWH Sultan Kudarat 2nd District Engineering Office (DEO).

The multi-year concreting project involves the improvement of 24.53 kilometers road section of the proposed 71-kilometer Esperanza-Lebak Bypass Road, which starts from the Awang-Upi-Lebak-Kalamansig-Palimbang-Sarangani Road; as well as the construction of two (2) bridges with one already completed during the project’s first phase.

Aside from providing a safer and convenient road structure that will reduce the four-hour travel time from Lebak to Isulan to only two (2) hours, the project is also expected to lessen the agricultural production cost and equivalently increase productivity in the area.

“Farmers and growers of bamboo and coffee plantations in the upland barangays of Basak, Villamonte, Capilan, and New Calinog will greatly benefit from better accessibility to market towns and distribution centers, which the project aims to achieve,” Secretary Villar said.

Another seven (7) kilometers of road is set to be upgraded with the implementation of the project’s Phase 4 in 2021, while construction of the remaining gaps are already programmed yearly until the road network is completely linked.