The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is fast-tracking the rehabilitation of the damaged sections of the Manila North Road (formerly MacArthur Highway) in Minalin town, this province.

DPWH Pampanga 1st District Engineer Almer Miranda said on Wednesday that the rehabilitation, reconstruction, and upgrading of the 1,642 linear-meter Minalin section of the Manila North Road is now halfway done.

“We have been under strict instruction from Regional Director Roseller Tolentino to exhaust all means to expedite our projects months before the onset of the rainy season,” Miranda said in an official social media post.

The national government has allotted some PHP91 million for the rehabilitation of the damaged sections of Manila North Road that is being implemented through the DPWH’s Asset Preservation Program.

Miranda said the implementation of the rehabilitation project funded under General Appropriations Act for the year 2020 began on Dec. 1, 2020.

Although the project was tagged as under “For Later Release,” he said the Pampanga 1st District Engineering Office immediately started the road rehabilitation project after the Department of Budget and Management released the funds, making it 73 percent complete as of May 25, 2021.

“We are doing our best to meet the July 2021 target to complete the road rehabilitation. Three years ago, in 2019, the average daily traffic along this section of the Manila North Road is at 50,000, and considering this volume of vehicles that surely increased in three years, it is expected that the condition of the road pavement had to take the toll,” Miranda added. (PNA)