BAUKO, Mountain Province – Hundreds of farmers in this upland town will benefit from the completion of the improvement of the 5.7-kilometer Banata-Sumey-ang-Sadsadan farm-to-market road which broke ground recently.
Gov. Bonifacio Lacwasan said the said road will not only benefit the hundreds of farmers living along the roadline but it will also help promote the various scenic spots along the way and will serve as an alternate route for motorists when the Mount Data cliff is closed to vehicular traffic during landslides.
The roadline will connect with the Sadsadan to Am-am tourism road and help bolster the growth of the local tourism industry as the town has numerous scenic spots like waterfalls, the vegetable gardens, awesome views, among others, that are situated on the Mount Data plateau.
“We will closely monitor the implementation of the major infrastructure project because it is one of the first projects implemented under my watch. We want to make sure that the programmed works will be done pursuant to the prescribed standards because it is a foreign-assisted project,” Lacwasan stressed.
The governor revealed the fund for the project came from the World Bank-assisted Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP) aimed at helping enhance the state of the country’s agriculture sector through the implementation of major infrastructure projects linking agricultural areas to the markets.
According to him, the scope of work for the project include concreting works, road widening and put up of slope protection structures and drainage systems spread all over the 5.7-kilometer roadline.
Earlier, Lacwasan issued the notice to proceed for the winning contractor to start the project works to ensure its completion within the prescribed period so that farmers in the affected areas will benefit as soon as possible by providing them easier access to the market.
Lacwasan is optimistic that other PRDP-funded projects in the different parts of the province will also break ground in the coming months after the completion of the tedious bidding procedures so that people who had been awaiting for the improvement of the roads in their respective places will start reaping the fruits of having good roads leading to the market for them to be able to market their produce.
With better roads, Lacwasan believes that the transport cost of agricultural products will significantly be lessened coupled with the lesser wear and tear of motor vehicles thereby translating to lower transport cost of goods redounding to increased income for the farmers.
Mountain Province is one of the provinces in the Cordillera to receive various projects funded under the foreign-assisted PRDP which was recently extended by the national government and the funding agency.
By HENT