INAUGURAL RIDE. President Aquino waves to the crowd from a pickup truck with Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and other government officials during Friday’s opening of the new Quezon City underpass. PHOTO BY LAURO MONTELLANO JR./MALACAÑANG PHOTO BUREAU
After a 15-month wait marked by daily bottlenecks and crawling traffic, relief finally came for motorists and commuters taking Quezon and Araneta Avenues in Quezon City.
The P430-million underpass on Quezon Avenue and intersecting Araneta was finally opened to traffic on Friday.
Gracing the midday rites, President Aquino noted that the project was completed three months ahead of schedule and cheaper than the initially projected cost by more than P200 million.
Mr. Aquino—who rode a pickup truck with former Quezon City mayor and now Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson for the inaugural drive through the 440-meter interchange project—praised public works officials for a job well done.
“Who wouldn’t be impressed? The original P694-million budget was reduced to P430 million, and it was completed ahead of schedule,” the President said in brief remarks.
The underpass is expected to ease traffic congestion on both thoroughfares where more than 100,000 vehicles pass every day.
“This will bring much relief to the people,” Singson said.
The project was initially expected to take 18 months to finish, from June 20, 2011, to Dec. 10, 2012, and was allocated P694.15 million in the national budget.
But after some changes in the design, the cost was first reduced to P534.6 million before it was finally pegged at P430 million.
“This project is very important because more than 100,000 vehicles pass through here every day. If you save P6 in gas, that’s P20 million a month and P240 million a year. We spent P430 million; in two years we will recover that because of the savings in gas,” Singson told the President in an on-site briefing.
The underpass allots two lanes in both directions and is also equipped with three submersible pumps that can discharge 277 liters of water per second in case of flooding, with a power generator on standby.
“We put a huge cistern that will be connected to a pumping system. The three pumps will take out the excess water that is collected in the cistern. This is the same design we used in the other underpasses,” Public Works Undersecretary Romeo Momo said.
Earlier on Friday, President Aquino also inaugurated the North Rizal Water System Project in Barangay Payatas, Quezon City, which will serve households in Quezon City, Marikina, and in San Mateo town in Rizal province.
“The North Rizal Water System Project will use its own transmission mains to bring quality water to more or less a million residents in (Metro Manila’s) east zone,” he said in a speech. With a report from Tina G. Santos