InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
BAGUIO CITY - The proposed privatization of the 45-kilometer Kennon Road, one of the primary arteries leading up to Baguio City, is drawing both support and opposition.
City vice mayor Daniel Farinas said privatization would make the travel along the road safer as improvement and maintenance would be assured.
Kennon Road was constructed in the early 1900's by the Americans led by Colonel Lyman Kennon of the United States Army, making use of both local and foreign laborers.
The road sustained much damage during the 1990 "killer quake" and time and again, boulders and rocks close the road during heavy downpours.
Rehabilitation of the road has been undertaken by the government through the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to make travel safe.
Farinas's view was shared by Lawyer Arnel Cassanova of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), who also observed that the higher toll fees to be collected would ensure the road's better maintenance.
The opposition to the proposal is mainly from transport groups such as Piston, which is balking precisely at projections of higher toll fees for use of the road. That would place an additional burden on public transport operators, drivers, and their passengers, the groups say.
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