CEBU CITY, Philippines – Road expansion especially along the right lane is expected to keep Kilometer 39 of the Cebu Transcentral Highway safer for motorists, a public works official said.Engineer James Dellosa, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) third district engineer, said Monday the right lane had to be expanded with a backhoe or through blasting, to ensure that another landslide would not close the two-lane road. Also, space was needed to bring fallen rocks and debris away from passing motorists, he said. Dellosa said landslides are to be expected in the area whenever rains occur. “There is nothing we can do. We just have to let them (boulders and debris) go down and then we will clean up,” he said. Huge rocks and other debris blocked a portion of Kilometer 39 near Barangay Kansomoroy on Friday night. Several vehicles passing the area were stranded as engineering personnel worked to clear the road of the obstruction. The road was again opened to vehicles at 10 a.m. last Saturday after DPWH cleared about 40 percent of obstruction. But they had to stop the clearing operations once in a while to avoid falling rocks. Dellosa said the constant rains resulted in soil siltation in the nearby mountain, causing mud to slide down to the road. A ravine lies on the left side of the road in Barangay (village) Kansomoroy, Balamban town in midwest Cebu. Kilometer 39 was again passable to all types of vehicles before sundown on Monday. Dellosa said his men managed to complete the clearing operations before 5 p.m. after three days of work. He said about P500,000 was spent for the three-day operations which started at 6 a.m. on Saturday. He said that luckily, debris and boulders did not damage a portion of Kilometer 39. The 3rd engineering district is now working to expand Kilometer 38, a portion of which has started to cave in. Dellosa said P20 million has been set aside for the purpose in the 2008 budget while another P30 million is included in the 2009 national budget. He said some P5 million to P10 million of the P30 million budget will be spent to expand and fix the damaged portion of Kilometer 38. He said that if there was an excess in the budget, the DPWH would ask the project contractor to widen the road in nearby Kilometer 39. /Reporter Doris C. Bongcac | 
