TADIAN, Mountain Province – The municipal government is pushing for the conversion of the Nacauang-Mabalite provincial road to a national road or secondary national arterial road to help in speeding up its rehabilitation that will allow the smooth transport of goods and people to and from this town’s remote village.
Mayor Constito Masweng said that the funds earlier earmarked by the Department of Agriculture (DA) under the foreign-funded Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) was not sufficient to complete the whole road network until Mabalite thus there are still portions leading to the said barangay which have not yet been significantly improved.
He pointed out that the PRDP completed the programmed projects from Besao to Nacauang and some portions leading to barangay Mabalite but the funds were not sufficient to complete the whole roadline to the remote barangay.
Earlier, the DA programmed the rehabilitation of the Besao-Nacauang-Mabalite road that was funded under the World Bank-assisted PRDP but the re-programming of the works that should be done caused the shortening of the project area as the funds were not enough to pursue the project until barangay Mabalite.
Mayor Masweng expressed hope that the proposal to nationalize this road network will merit the support of concerned stakeholders so that the desired improvement of the road leading to Mabalite will be realized as the municipal government cannot provide the funds to completely rehabilitate and upgrade the road.
According to him, the provincial government also wants that this particular road to remain a provincial road and it will be the one to undertake the further improvement of the road leading to one of the town’s remotest barangay.
Masweng claimed that the proposal to have a second phase of the project might not be feasible as it will be treated by the PRDP as a second priority that is why the ultimate solution to fastrack the rehabilitation and upgrading of the road leading to Mabalite is its nationalization so that the public works department will be compelled to provide funds not only for its improvement but also its maintenance.
He explained that the Besao-Nacauang road is serving as an alternate route for motorists wanting to go to the lowlands and Baguio City, especially when the Halsema highway is closed to traffic due to road-closures from natural and human-induced calamities, thus, the need to sustain its maintenance to ensure that the road will be passable.
The local chief executive asserted that the nationalization of this road will contribute in further improving the transport of quality agricultural products from the farms along the roadline to the nearest trading facilities in La Trinidad, Benguet and Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya considering the existence of the Abatan-Kabayan-Gorel road that connects to the Benguet-Nueva Vizcaya road.
Tadian is one of the western towns of Mountain Province nearest to the upper towns of Ilocos Sur such as Cervantes and Quirino, Ilocos Sur. By Dexter A. See
