In his recent first official visit to Eastern Visayas, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Acting Secretary Roger Mercado met with DPWH and National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) officials. He coordinated with the NEDA officials to come up with long-term infrastructure development plan for the region.
In a press briefing, he said that President Rodrigo Duterte asked him to help Eastern Visayas solve poverty and insurgency through infrastructure development, aside from fast tracking the Build, Build, Build projects nationwide.
The priority projects in the region that he said he would focus on are the new Liloan Bridge in Southern Leyte; the Maasin City Coastal Bypass Road; the second San Juanico Bridge that will connect the coastal towns of Babatngon, Leyte and Sta. Rita, Samar; completion of Silago-Abuyog Coastal Road in Leyte; 19-kilometer Bohol-Leyte Link Bridge; and the foreign-funded Samar Pacific Coastal Road Project in Northern Samar.
Secretary Mercado further said that given the limited time, he will ensure that paper works and other pre-construction activities that are blueprints for economic development will be completed within the term of the President.
Mercado also inspected the Liloan Bridge in Southern Leyte, and the coastal road that links Abuyog, Leyte and Silago, Southern Leyte. The 40-year-old steel bridge in Liloan town forms part of the nautical highway that links the islands of Luzon, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao while the Abuyog-Silago Road is the alternative highway that connects Leyte and Southern Leyte provinces.
(Photo by DPWH
Southern Leyte Times