Manila, July 27 (Engineering Daily) -- The proposed Davao City Bypass Construction Project which is located within Davao City has an approximate 44.6km length, including the tunnel section, which will start from Davao-Digos section of the Pan Philippine Highway in Toril, Davao City and will terminate intersecting the Davao-Agusan National Highway in Panabo City.
The project is divided into two phases, precisely: Phase 1 composes of South Section (Road) and Center Section (Tunnel) with roads and bridges (26.5 km length); tunnel (2.3 km length); improvement of existing two connector (local) road (10.2 km length) with project cost of Php 14.23B to be shared by JICA and GOP (JICA-Php9.27B; GOP-Php4.96B). Schedule of construction is from Aprl 2019 – April 2022. North Section (Road) — locally funded consisting of roads and bridges - 15.8 km with project cost of Php 5.577B. Schedule of construction is from January 2020 – January 2022.
Phase 2 includes widening of the 42.3 km bypass road from two-lane to four-lane road with indicative cost of Php 10B. Schedule of construction is from 2019 – 2025.
The 2.3-km two-way tunnel that would be put up by digging through the hilly area in Barangay Magtuod, is poised to become the longest tunnel in the Philippines for public transport.
The objective of the Project is to improve accessibility to main infrastructure facilities and mitigating congestions in Davao City by constructing a bypass road and improving existing access roads, and thereby contribute to economic development and sound urban development of the City.
The Project is not considered to be a large-scale infrastructure project, is not located in a sensitive area, and has none of the sensitive characteristics under the JICA Environmental and Social Considerations Guidelines (April 2010); therefore, it is not likely to have significant adverse impact on the environment.
“The project aims to improve the transport logistics and mitigate congestion in the Davao City urban center, thereby contributing to economic and social development of Mindanao and the bypass tunnel will have an important role to unite the west and east side communities, existing and under development, which are currently separated by a mountain,” according to a project briefer.
