TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The Department of Public works and Highways – Lower Kalinga District Engineering Office (DPWH-LKDEO) completed some P69.1 million worth of various waterworks projects in different sites in the city to help in ensuring sustainable water supply for the beneficiaries of the said infrastructure projects funded under the annual budget of the national government last year.
DPWH-LKDEO officer-in-charge Engr. Ruby Uyam disclosed that the said waterworks projects are part of the convergence and special support program of the agency involving the construction/rehabilitation of water supply/septage and sewerage/rain water collector system for sustainable water supply and the construction of Level 3 water supply system.
Further, she said that the construction and rehabilitation of water supply system in different locations in the city where there were some 32 sites that consists of 27 sites with water tank, 16 sites with solar powered water pumps, 10 sites with Kalinga-Apayao electric Cooperative (KAELCO) powered water pumps.
The DPWH-LKDEO official claimed that the said projects were already turned over to the different beneficiaries within the said sites during simple turnover rites that was graced by Rep. Allen Jesse C. Mangaoang and provincial and city officials.
She said that the agency closely monitored the implementation of the said projects to ensure their completion as per schedule so that the beneficiaries in the various barangays of the city will be able to enjoy sustainable water supply, especially during the summer season.
DPWH-LKDEO is in charge of the planning, programming, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of infrastructure projects funded under the annual budget of the national government coursed through the public works department in the city and the nearby towns of Rizal, Pinukpuk and Tanudan.
District Engineer Uyam expressed her gratitude to the contractor and the concerned stakeholders for their unwavering support that resulted in the timely completion of the programmed waterworks projects beneficial for the people living in communities encountering difficulties in having access to sustainable supply of potable and irrigation water for their agricultural produce.
According to her, similar projects will be implemented by the agency within its areas of jurisdiction that will be beneficial to more communities so that people will have easier access to water supply for their needs among others.
Tabuk is being groomed by the Regional Development Council (RDC) in the Cordillera as the future growth center of the region because of the availability of vast tracks of land that could be used for the expansion areas of the various agencies to establish the regional center.
Since its conversion as a component city in 2007, Tabuk’s development was unprecedented since then with the significant increase in businesses that were established in strategic areas through the years aside from serving its title as the rice granary of the cordillera over the past several decades.