BAUKO, Mountain Province – Mayor Abraham B. Akilit commended the regional and district offices of the Department of Public works and Highways (DPWH) for immediately prioritizing the concreting of unpaved gaps in various sections of national roads in the different parts of the town which contributed to the smooth and speedy delivery of basic services to the people in the remote villages.
Akilit brought the matter of the existence of a series of unpaved 50-meter gaps along national and secondary arterial roads in the municipality to the DPWH which is not in accordance to sound engineering practices and causes inconvenience to the motoring public so that the agency will prioritize the paving of the gaps instead of pursuing other major road re-blocking activities in good roads.
“Our constituents are now satisfied over the timely action of DPWH officials to our earlier request to prioritize the paving of the series of 50-meter gaps along our roads instead of pursuing more re-blocking projects that have significantly affected the efficient and effective delivery of basic services to the remote villages,” Mayor Akilit stressed.
The local chief executive admitted that after raising his point in relation to the implementation of on-going projects in the town, DPWH officials immediately paid a visit to him and agreed to work on the numerous 50-meter gaps along the major national roads while working on the programmed re-blocking works which now resulted to convenient travel among motorists going and coming from the upland municipality.
“As our counterpart to ensure the immediate completion of all major concreting and widening works along our national works, we tasked our barangay officials within areas that have road-right-of-way problems to be the ones to settle such conflicts that resulted to our harmonious working relationships with concerned agencies and the barangays,” Akilit said.
He pointed barangay officials and the people know the value of improved condition of our roads provided that concerned government agencies give importance to their plight that they be given importance through dialogues and consultations which should be the essence of transparent and good governance.
The mayor cited now that all the gaps along the 94-kilometer Mabaay-Abatan-Tadian-Cervantes national road have been patched up and concreted, motorists have now experienced smooth travel to and from their points of origin and destination thereby resulting to the speedy delivery of basic services compared to when the condition of the road was still unpaved and have numerous gravel portions.
From the previous 45 minutes travel from Mount Data to the municipal hall area in Abatan here, motorists claimed the paving of the gaps shortened the travel time to only 20 minutes which translates to savings on fuel and time.
Akilit called on the DPWH to include in its priority list of projects in the coming years the concreting and widening of several inter-provincial and inter-municipal tourism roads in the different parts of the town which lead to key tourism destinations that would serve as an added boost to the growth of visitors who will visit the town considering that it is the gateway of Mountain Province before going to other tourist destinations like the towns of Sagada and Bontoc.
