By HENRY EMPEÑO | Taktikom News & Features

IBA, Zambales — Construction of the Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEx) that would link strategic areas in the region is expected to resume in the second quarter of 2024 following the resolution of right-of-way claims that previously bogged down the P11.8-billion government project.

Zambales Governor Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., who chairs both the Regional Development Council’s Sectoral Committee on Infrastructure Development and the Regional Peace and Order Council in Central Luzon, said a dialogue last March 19 between project officials and landowners affected by the project has cleared the air and resolved issues.

Delays in the payment of right-of-way claims reportedly led some claimants to put up barricades along the highway to press for compensation. The rxpressway traverses mostly farming communities between the provinces of Tarlac and Nueva Ecija.

Earlier, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reported that some P49.32 million has been allocated for right-of-way claims, but documentation of some claims had been problematic.

Ebdane said, however, that the issue has been resolved in the March 19 meeting he facilitated between affected landowners and officials of the DPWH Unified Project Management Office-Road Management Cluster 1 and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), as well as Mayor Cristino M. Joson of Quezon, Nueva Ecija.

“The project already has the green light now,” Ebdane said on Saturday. ““We met with the concerned landowners and farmers, and we managed to solve the problem out of the box,” he added.

Ebdane said that after the dialogue, affected landowners already dismantled the barricades they have set up along the 35.7-kilometer route.

“So, we expect construction to resume in the second quarter,” he added.

The CLLEx project started way back in May 2016, with five contract packages for a four-lane expressway that would provide an important east-west link connecting Tarlac City and San Jose City in Nueva Ecija.

Three of the five contract packages have been completed, the DPWH said.

The expressway will also connect with the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) south of the region and the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx) in the north, thus enhancing accessibility and mobility in Central Luzon.

Upon completion, CLLEx will shorten travel time between Tarlac City and Cabanatuan City from 70 minutes to 20 minutes, said Ebdane.

The CLLEX is part of the Luzon Spine Expressway Network which is planned to extend from the northernmost part of Luzon, Ilocos, to the southernmost part, Bicol.

Ebdane said the CLLEx will provide a free-flowing alternative route that will decongest traffic along the Pan Philippine Highway (PPH) between Tarlac City and San Jose City in Nueva Ecija.

“This will also form an important east-west road link in Region 3, and provide safe, fast and reliable connection to Metro Manila and other critical development areas in Central Luzon,” he added. 