The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has said it was investigating alternative routes to bypass the trees.
The prospects of the trees being felled was decried by protesters as an “environmental disaster” and a petition calling for them to be protected has garnered nearly 20 thousand signatures.
DPWH engineer Arthur Torillo said: “We urge the City Council to issue an endorsement resolution that will allow us to find another route to avoid hitting those giant acacia trees.”
The city council has now agreed to discuss his request. Manuelito Ramos, of the city’s Environment and Natural Resources Office said: “Development activities should not compromise the status of the environment, especially in Puerto Princesa.”
City tourism officer Aileen Cynthia Amurao said the Acacia Tunnel was being eyed by the city government as an ecotourism destination in its own right.
The 30 billion peso highway project starts from El Nido town in the north and ends in Bataraza town in the south, running the length of mainland Palawan.
While the expansion of the highway is likely to boost economic growth, some are concerned that it may come at the expense of the environment.
The Puerto Princesa-based Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC) has questioned the project which it described as an “environmental disaster” in the making, as it “poised to inflict irreversible damage on the natural environment of the province”.
“The evident rush to undertake this project, its brazen disregard of the established procedures designed to mitigate negative environmental impacts is a cause for concern for anyone who cares about the integrity of our province’s fragile environment,” an ELAC statement said.
According to the Palawan NGO Network Inc. (PNNI), the project has been pushed through despite not yet having secured all the necessary permits.
ELAC has urged the government to “put on hold any preparatory activities related to the building of the six-lane road,” until the required assessments and relevant studies had been completed.
However, provincial governor Jose Alvarez maintains that the wider roads would encourage more tourists and also speed up the movement of agricultural and fishery products from the rural communities across the island.
“Its completion will accelerate the development and inclusive growth of Palawan in the coming years,” he said.