BCDA initiates expropriation cases vs adamant landowners

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — The Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) has initiated expropriation proceedings against landowners who have refused to sell their properties to give way to the P27.5-billion Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.

At a press briefing here, BCDA president and chief executive officer Narciso Abaya said he wanted the 93.7-kilometer expressway to be finished by December 2007.

He said the BCDA would resort to more expropriation proceedings should other landowners refuse to sell their properties at a reasonable cost.

Rex Chan, BCDA vice president for operations, cited the case of a landowner in Porac, Pampanga who refused to sell his property based on the assessed current value.

Abaya, meanwhile, said the BCDA has left to the project’s two Japanese contractors, Kajima Joint Ventures Inc. and Hasama Joint Ventures Inc., the choice of sub-contractors.

"We have refrained from choosing sub-contractors because we do not want to be accused of anything awry that can happen to the project," he said.

He, however, said the BCDA has to approve the sub-contractors recommended by the Japanese contractors. So far, the agency has given its nod to six sub-contractors.

More changes, though, are being considered in the project after Pampanga Gov. Mark Lapid asked that another interchange be built in his province.

So far, the only interchange available to Pampanga would be in Angeles City, while the province would have to share another interchange with Dinalupihan, Bataan, Lapid said.

Abaya said he would consider Lapid’s proposal that the interchange be constructed in Porac since an existing road there, some six kilometers away from the recommended site, could be connected to the expressway.

Earlier, Chan told The STAR that the two Japanese contractors would be fined P5 million for each day that they go beyond the deadline for completion of what would be the longest tollway in the country.

Local officials in Pampanga have recommended that lahar sand be used as filling for the expressway, but this proposal has yet to be fully considered in the absence of more studies showing that the volcanic debris from Mt. Pinatubo would be strong enough for such a purpose.

Of the project’s P27.5-billion cost, P21 billion would come from a loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), while the remaining P6 billion would be the BCDA’s counterpart fund to cover right-of-way compensation and some P3.1 billion in tax subsidy.

The project covers 33 bridges, four of which are major ones with a span of more than 300 meters. The bridge across the Sacobia-Bamban River will be the longest, with a span of 1.16 kilometers.

The three other major bridges would cross the Pasig Potrero, Porac and Gumain rivers.