LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The House committee on public works will prioritize the passage of a pending bill mandating the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to program future infrastructure development funds for the development of barangay roads once the government will be able to complete the rehabilitation of all national roads in the country after 2016.
Rep. Ronald M. Cosalan, chairman of the House committee on public works, and Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla authored the bill requiring the DPWH to infuse the infrastructure development funds to the concreting and improvement of barangay roads after the national government shall have completed its obligation to pave all national roads by the end of next year so that economic growth will spread to the countryside.
Cosalan said concerned government agencies have no objection to the proposal when it was subjected to initial hearing by the committee considering that the DPWH will have no substantial work to do after the paving of all national roads, except for maintenance works, thus, the future budgets of the agency for road rehabilitation and upgrading will be used for the development of barangay roads in the next five years or until the year 2021.
“We have to prepare the foundation for the overall infrastructure development in the country in the next five years because the Aquino administration will be able to complete the rehabilitation of all national roads by the end of his term, thus, concerned government agencies must now focus their attention to the rehabilitation of priority barangay road networks in order to complete the plan,” Cosalan stressed.
Cosalan confirmed the over P600 billion to be earmarked by the national government for the rehabilitation and upgrading of national roads nationwide next year is geared towards completing the unpaved portions of national roads in the different parts of the archipelago.
According to him, improving inter-municipal, inter-provincial and inter-regional road networks is part of the overall thrust of the national government to bring closer to the people inclusive growth because the marginalized sectors will now have easier access to services needed to significantly improve their living condition.
The chairman of the House committee on public works asserted economic activities in the various remote communities have substantially improved since the national government embarked on an aggressive effort to rehabilitate, upgrade and improve national and secondary arterial roads in the different parts of the country over the past four years.
Cosalan disclosed improving the state of barangay roads in the over 42,000 barangays in the next five years would definitely complement the gains of the government in terms of improving accessibility to the countryside and increasing economic activities that would translate to increased job generation, improved sources of livelihood and expanded sources of income for the people, especially those living in the remote villages.
Cosalan said the approval of the 5-year barangay development plan would help address the long overdue plight of the people that less developed roads should be prioritized for rehabilitation instead of concerted roads that are subjected to the so-called re-blocking activities of the agency over the past several years that earned the ire of ordinary citizens.
