SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – Several road rehabilitation projects are now being implemented by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) under a P530-million infrastructure program to repair U.S. Navy-era roads and related public works structures in this former military facility.

Following the completion early this year of the P9.3-million El Kabayo road rehabilitation project, the Subic agency has now started the P18-million Argonaut Highway-George Dewey Complex road and drainage improvement project and parts of the P369.7-million road rehabilitation package that will cover major thoroughfares in the Central Business District here, said SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma.

“More projects will be underway soon, so I ask Subic stakeholders, as well as visitors to the Freeport, to please bear with us the temporary inconveniences like traffic jams, and a little noise and dust pollution because of the on-going road projects,” she said.

“We’re doing this to improve the core business infrastructure here and to sustain the attractiveness of the Subic Bay Freeport as a globally-competitive trade and tourism center,” she added.

 

Eisma said this was the first time that a massive road rehabilitation program is undertaken ever since Subic became a free port zone in 1992. She said the repairs are necessary because the US Navy-built roads have deteriorated over the years.

She said that most of the funds for rehabilitation projects come from the national government’s Build-Build-Build program, including a P500-million rehabilitation fund for the Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA) in 2017 and the P530-million fund for road rehabilitation that was approved last year.

Eisma recalled that upon her appointment as SBMA administrator in 2017, she found out that there was no budget for road repairs because the SBMA doesn’t get any assistance from the national government and had to rely on internal funds.

“Thus, I had to seek the assistance of Senator Richard Gordon, the first SBMA chairman, to get some funding for Subic included in the national budget,” she said.

As of now, Eisma said that the SBMA Board of Directors has approved and awarded two new major rehabilitation projects: the P76-million road rehabilitation project proposed in 2016, and the P18-million drainage improvement project along the Argonaut Highway-George Dewey Complex.

Three other major projects are now up for bidding, she said: Naval Supply Depot (NSD) Road Rehabilitation Project Phase 2, Road Rehabilitation Project 2018, and Road Rehabilitation Project 2019.

According to the SBMA Public Works and Technical Services Group, the P299-million 2018 road rehabilitation package will cover improvements at the Malawaan Park parking area, road ramp along Dewey Avenue leading to the Kalaklan Gate, and repair of Waterfront Road, road to the New Container Terminal, Rizal Highway and Maritan Highway, as well as several roads in residential areas.

Meanwhile, the P253-million 2019 road rehabilitation package will consist of repairs along main roads like Argonaut Highway, San Bernardino Road, roads to Leyte Wharf and Sattler Pier duct banks, Rizal Highway, Boton Highway, Binictican Drive, and the approaches to Kalaklan Bridge and 14^th Street Bridge.

On the other hand, the P85-million NSD Road Rehabilitation Project Phase 2 will include repairs of roads leading to the NSD Compound, the center of grain and bulk shipments here, which have been battered by heavy trucks that carry tons of cargo unloaded from ships. — HENRY EMPEÑO

 

TOP PHOTO: Workers build an embankment for the Argonaut Highway-George Dewey Complex drainage improvement project in the Subic Bay Freeport. (Photo by Jun Dumaguing)