EDSA rehab might be moved to 2027 — DPWH

The deferred rehabilitation of the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) — Metro Manila’s busiest thoroughfare — which was supposed to start in June this year might be moved further to 2027, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said Wednesday.

On the sidelines of the Post-State of the Nation Address (SONA) forum in San Juan City, Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan told reporters that the DPWH is now awaiting President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s go signal for the agency to implement its recommendations to use a non-conventional construction technology to implement EDSA’s rehabilitation.

“Ayaw ni Presidente na masyado mahaba ‘yung pagsasara ng lanes sa EDSA,” Bonoan said.

(The President does not want the closure of lanes at EDSA to take longer.)

To recall, Marcos suspended the EDSA rehabilitation initiative that was supposed to begin on June 13, as the project needs to be studied for one month to know if there are new technologies that can be used to hasten the rehabilitation of the 23.8-kilometer road.

In the original plan, EDSA would be reconstructed lane-by-lane, with each being replaced by a new road.

The DPWH is now studying the “time and motion” process where a layer would be placed above the surface of EDSA.

Bonoan said it will not be practical to do the EDSA rehabilitation this second half of the year amid the rainy season.

“Mga next year na or 2027 kasi may ASEAN meeting eh,” he said.

(It would be next year or 2027 because of the ASEAN meeting.)

The Philippines is set to host the 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit next year, as it took the helm of the bloc’s chairmanship.

The DPWH chief said that using a new technology, the rehabilitation of EDSA would “take about six months.”

With this, Bonoan said that “there will be slight changes in the [budget].”

The whole project would cost between P8 billion and P17 billion.

Bonoan, in an exclusive report by Joseph Morong on “24 Oras,” earlier said that the road’s rehabilitation and the consequent implementation of the odd-even scheme will only begin in 2026 as “it is already the rainy season in the country, which will be followed by the Christmas rush during the ‘Ber’ months. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News