EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Name of Road Project BLISTT Outer Ring Circumferential Road

Proponent Provincial Government of Benguet
Construction Schedule 2017 - 2024
Road Influence Area The proposed road project will directly benefit six
municipalities and city: Baguio City, La Trinidad, Itogon,
Sblan, Tuba and Tublay
Road Sections (Junctions) Monglo-Kamog-Balluay-Ambongdolan-Sayatan-
Ambassador –Labey-Ambuklao Dam Access Road-Guisset-
Tinongdan Brgy. Hall-Twin River-Itogon Municipal Hall-
Carantes-Balatoc-Loakan-Camp 7-Balacbac-Taloy Norte-
Tuba National HighSchool-Monglo
Total Road Traffic Benefits Php 95,168,018,295.66
Results of Financial and EIRR 20.59%
Economic Analysis ENPV Php 2,887,905,700.61
BCR 1.85

FIRR 20.48%
FNPV Php 2,847,777,087.24
BCR 1.83
Organizational Structure DPWH-CAR
BLISTT Development Council
BLISTT Governing Board

BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

One of the on-going programs of the Province of Benguet is the development of the
Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) as a growth center. BLISTT was
originally known as BLIST, but eventually became BLISTT when the local government of
Tublay joined the conglomeration in 2009.
In 1992, the BLIST concept was officially adopted by the European Union (EU). In 1994,
the BLIST Urban Plan was completed through an EU grant. As part of the plan, roads were
programmed and developed, such as the Western Link Road (Pico – Lamtang Road) and the
BLIST Circumferential Road. Undertakings such as the BLIST University Community Project
were also conceptualized.
After inactivity for almost 20 years, the BLIST was revitalized in 2009 through the
initiative of the Regional Development Council (RDC) - CAR. Reasons for the revitalization
include: (a) the uncontrolled urban expansion in Baguio City and La Trinidad towards their
adjacent towns and its impact on the concerned towns’ natural resources; (b) the World Bank’s
recommendation of the inclusive urban development strategy, as cited in the 2004 – 2034
Regional Physical Framework Plan (RPFP) of the BLIST as the region’s potential center for
administration and economic activity. It was also during this time that the municipality Tublay

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1
was added to the convergence, and the inter–local cooperation was subsequently renamed as
BLISTT.
The BLISTT Mayors and Congressmen, along with the Benguet Governor, agreed to
support the BLISTT concept in June of 2010. In 2012, the BLISTT convergence was further
intensified, after rehabilitation efforts in the wake of Typhoon Pepeng slowed down earlier
initiatives.
During the recent years, one of the projects facilitated by the BLISTT Governing Board
and Development Council is the BLISTT Inner Ring Circumferential Road, which was believed
to have helped solve traffic congestion in the BLISTT area. However, it has been observed that
the Inner Ring Circumferential Road was not enough to decongest the area. The BLISTT Outer
Ring Circumferential Road was therefore proposed and programmed.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The BLISTT Outer Ring Circumferential Road has a total length of approximately
143.398 kilometers broken down as follows:

Road Classification Length (in kilometers)

Gravel 54.106
Local roads 25.608
National roads 57.889
Earth road (unmaintained) 10.437
Proposed Bridge .2
Existing Bridge .108

The proposed road shall interconnect the whole of BLISTT and shall complement the
BLISTT Inner Ring Circumferential Road which links Baguio City, La Trinidad and Tuba.
National roads along the BLISTT outer ring will be upgraded to asphalt-concrete roads,
while local roads, gravel roads and roads which are considered unmaintained will be upgraded to
paved-good roads.

OBJECTIVE OF THE FEASIBILITY STUDY

The objective of the feasibility study is to determine the viability of the construction of
the proposed BLISTT Outer Ring Circumferential Road project.

SUMMARY
The Regional Development Plan of CAR aims to take advantage of economies of scale to
sustain growth and development of the region through the identification of growth clusters.
BLISTT was identified as one of the primary growth clusters in the Cordilleras and is continually
developed through road network enhancements such as the BLISTT OUTER RING
CIRCUMFERENTIAL ROAD project.

The road project would complement the inner ring and would serve as a by-pass road
aiming to decongest Baguio City and disperse economic benefits among the municipalities
involved. La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba and Tublay would benefit in the areas of tourism,

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agriculture and trade through the interconnection created by the BLISTT Outer Ring
Circumferential Road.

In recognition of the significant role the BLISTT Outer Ring Road to regional
development, this road project was included in the Updated Regional Development Investment
Program 2014-2016 as a priority project of the Infrastructure Sector and again as a major region
wide priority in the Revalidated RDIP 2015-2017.
Benguet is the roof of Northern Luzon, with its landmark peaks among the highest in the
country and is known for its cool and pleasant weather. The province’s land, water, forest and
resources make possible the continual growth of economic activity and development in its
agriculture, mining, eco-tourism, handicrafts and agri-business sectors.
The central area of economic activity Benguet is BLISTT which is located at the southern
part of the province. Its land cover is mostly open forest and wooden grass land has a slope
category of steep to very steep. Mostly attributable to its slope characterization, the BLISTT
area has moderate to high susceptibility to erosions and landslides.
The population of BLISTT covers 34.13% of the entire Cordillera Region and has a
growth rate of 2.55% higher than that of the region. Ibalois have the major share in the BLISTT
population.
The economy of BLISTT is composed of the industry sector in the highly urbanized
Baguio City and services sector in La Trinidad, mining in Itogon and Tuba, and agriculture in
Sablan and Tublay. Most of the manufacturing output of the BLISTT and the CAR as a whole
are generated by the Baguio City Economic Zone-based Texas Instruments. The BLISTT’s
wealth of attractions establishes BLISTT’s place in the CAR as a prime eco-cultural destination.
Because of this, Tourism Circuits and Cluster systems are conceptualized to further boost the
area’s tourism potential.
The BLISTT Governing Board and the BLISTT Development Council was organized as
governing bodies of BLISTT’s development. The Department of Public Works and Highways –
CAR spearheads the BLISTT Outer Circumferential road in partnership with the councils,
municipalities and other involved departments and agencies. Through cooperation and
collaboration, the BLISTT outer Ring Circumferential Road project would push through with
consistency and efficiency.
AADTs of the five national roads in BLISTT which are (a) Ben Palispis Highway
(Marcos Highway); (b)Kennon Road; (c) Quirino Highway (Naguilian Road); (d) Benguet-
Nueva Vizcaya Road and (e) Baguio-Bontoc Road (Halsema Highway) from year 2009 to 2013
were gathered and analyzed. These AADTs were used to compute/estimate the traffic projection
for the BLISTT Outer Ring Circumferential Road.
The traffic projection for the proposed project comprises the Normal, Generated and
Diverted Traffic. Normal Traffic is the traffic derived from vehicles plying along the existing
national roads of the BLISTT Outer Ring Circumferential Road. These roads are Asin Road,

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Acop-Kapangan, Western Link Circumferential Road and PMA-Loakan-Virac-Itogon Road.
Generated Traffic is considered as 50% of AADT of Normal Traffic and Diverted Traffic is the
estimated traffic of the BLISTT Outer Ring Circumferential Road derived from the traffic of the
five national roads. Traffic growth rates were also computed to project the AADTs from 2024 to
2045.
Vehicle Operating Cost (VOC) in Benguet for 2013 was projected using the VOC in
2008 and used for the computation of the Project Vehicle Operating Cost (PVOC). For the VOC
without the project, surveys were conducted to determine the ground surface condition of every
road section on the BLISTT Outer Ring Circumferential Road but for the VOC with project, the
proposed project is assumed to be in paved good condition.
PVOCs (with and without project) from 2024 to 2045 were computed since the proposed
project is assumed to operate on 2024. Then, PVOC with project was subtracted from PVOC
without project to compute for the traffic benefits from PVOC.
The total computed benefits of BLISTT outer circumferential road from PVOC amounts
to Php 95,168,018,295.66 which was computed by summing up the total benefits from PVOC for
diverted traffic amounting to Php 20,723,665,780.24, total benefits from PVOC for normal
traffic amounting to Php 10,361,832,890.12 and total benefits from PVOC for generated traffic
amounting to Php 64,082,519,625.30.
The total project cost is estimated to be Php 5,019,180,000.00
The financial and economic valuation where discounted at 15 percent to compute for the
net present benefit for each year. The Net Present Value (NPV) was determined by getting the
sum of all net present benefits. The result of financial valuation shows that the project has a
Financial Internal Rate of Return (FIRR) of 18.5 percent with a NPV of Php
2,847,777,087.24with a Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) of 1.61. The financial cost of the project
where then converted to its economic cost to determine the project economic valuation. A 60
percent conversion factor for unskilled labor where only used for the project since it will not use
any imported material or labor. The project has an Economic Internal Rate of Return (EIRR) of
20.59 percent and a NPV of Php 2,887,905,700.61 with a BCR of 1.85.
Sensitivity analysis was conducted to see the robustness of the project in terms of
increasing cost and decreasing benefits by 20 percent. The project still registered a positive NPV
and Internal Rate of Return despite the worst case scenario which means that the project is
economically viable.
The proposed project would give various benefits to the communities of BLISTT when it is
completed. These include the decongestion of the worsening traffic of Baguio City and La
Trinidad, improved accessibility to community services, faster and more convenient transport of
agricultural products from La Trinidad, Sablan and Tublay and mining products from Tuba and
Itogon, and dispersal of business establishments along the BLISTT road influence area resulting
to more employment or job opportunities.
However, negative issues such as resettlement of affected residents, land acquisitions and
issues on road right of way, considering ancestral land rights, may arise during the
implementation of the project. To address these issues, required processes and documents will be

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4
done by the implementing organization of the proposed project with the cooperation of the
BLISTT LGUs.
The proposed project would also have impacts on the environment of the road influence
area during the construction phase but mitigating measures will be followed and applied by the
project implementers to address or avoid these impacts.

CONCLUSION
The BLISTT Circumferential Outer Ring Road was found to be very feasible given the
positive results of the Economic and Financial Evaluation and Sensitivity Analysis.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5