Davao City – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) led by Senior Undersecretary Emil K. Sadain inspected the on-going construction of the 45.5-kilometer Davao City Bypass Construction Project on December 1, 2022 and also to facilitate the acceleration of the excavation activities in the construction of the twin tube road mountain tunnel.
Sadain remains optimistic that excavation works for the first 2.3-kilometer will be completed by December 2023. The project will soon be first-ever long-distance mountain tunnel in the Philippines once completed.
The first 10.7-kilometer central portion will be partially opened by 2024, Sadain added.
The Davao City tunnel, with a north portal in Barangay Waan and south portal at the other end in Barangay Matina Biao, is a major component of the 10.7-kilometer contract package 1-1.
“So far, we have excavated, sprayed concrete or “shotcrete”, and installed steel ribs support reinforcement and rockbolts on the tunnel distance of 332 meters on northbound and 247 meters on southbound for south portal while progress for north portal is at 292 meters on southbound and 232 meters on northbound directions.”
“We are fast-tracking the simultaneous construction of the road mountain tunnel in four (4) areas of its north and south portals”, he emphasized.
The tunnel construction works for the Davao City Bypass Construction Project started at north portal on November 19, 2021 for southbound direction, and on December 10, 2021 for the northbound direction.
Meanwhile, excavation activities from opposite end at south portal commenced on May 12, 2022 for northbound direction and on June 9, 2022 for southbound direction.
The on-going contract package 1-1 costing ₱13.23 Billion is financed by Special Terms for Economic Partnership (STEP) Loan between Philippines and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) under loan agreement numbers PH-P261 and PH-P273.
The Davao City ByPass Road Construction Project is being implemented by DPWH Unified Project Management Office – Roads Management Cluster 1 (Bilateral) headed by Project Director Benjamin A. Bautista and under the on-site supervision and monitoring by Project Manager Joselito B. Reyes and Project Engr. Juan M. Diña Jr. with Nippon Koei – Katahira – Nippon Engineering – Philkoei as engineering consultants.
Once completed, the entire bypass road will slash travel time between Toril, Davao City and the northern Panabo City, Davao Del Norte to under 49 minutes from the usual more or less two (2) hours via Maharlika Highway.
