March 29, 2024

The city government is giving residents along Naguilian Road and Palispis-Aspiras Highway more time to demolish their structures as the city prepares the plan and budget for the recovery of the roads.

“We will be giving them sufficient time. Around one year siguro, pinakamaikli na siguro yung eight months but mostly one year or more,” Mayor Benjamin Magalong said.

He said the families and owners of the structures have been informed of their encroachment and were already advised that the government will take back the road right-of-way (RROW) for public use.

“We informed the concerned families and residents that they overshoot but in the meantime, there are no ongoing projects yet and the recovery and removal of their structure that encroaches the road will not be urgent,” the mayor said.

He said making the technical plan and budgeting will take about two years and the owners of the structures will have ample time to demolish their encroachments while the government has not started recovery.

He said in identifying those that encroached the RROW, the technical persons were aided by technology and the geographical information system which they overlaid with the digital cadastral mapping with the use of the AutoCAD computer program.

In the central business district, about 80 percent of the encroachments have been removed and the RROW cleared for use of the people, Magalong said.

He added the road recovery program, which was a directive from President Rodrigo Duterte, is a continuing project of the city government.

“Hopefully when the project at Naguilian road is complete, what used to be an hour going to Irisan will only be half an hour or 20 minutes,” Magalong said. – PNA