KABUGAO, Apayao – Mobility in the different parts of the province has significantly improved following the opening of the 60-kilometer road linking both upper and lower Apayao.
The 60-kilometer Pudtol-Cabugao road was built to connect the lower and upper Apayao towns and enhance economic activities in the whole province.
During the 22nd founding anniversary of the province, residents and visitors coming from Luna to attend the activities in this remote municipality passed through the new road significantly reducing their travel time to reach their destinations in the upper and lower towns.
Prior to the opening of the road to the public which took several years to finish, residents from the lower towns of the province wanting to go to the upper towns and vice versa have to pass through Cagayan spending at least 6 to 7 hour of travel time.
With the opening of the roadline, travel time from lower to upper Apayao and vice versa is only two hours.
Gov. Elias C. Bulut, Jr. expressed his gratitude to the leadership of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for including as a priority the building of the Luna-Pudtol-Kabugao-Conner road to help lessen the burden of residents and visitors in travelling around the province.
“Among the works that were done to open the roadline included road opening, concreting of pavements, installation of the drainage systems and slope protection walls to guarantee the safety of the motoring and commuting public cusing the national road.
“We are happy that our long-standing proposal to build more roads that will inter-connect the different towns in lower and upper Apayao has been realized. We are confident that investors will now consider Apayao as a potential investment area because the infrastructure is already in place to help sustain the economic growth, especially that our poverty rate has dropped from 56 percent to 24 percent over the past several years,” Bullut stressed.
Since 2012, Apayao has been a member of the 20 poorest provinces in the country with a high poverty rate but the province’s poverty rate has significantly improved based on the results of the latest poverty survey.
The lower towns of Apayao is composed of Luna, Sta. Marcela, Flora, and Pudtol while the upper towns comprise the capital towns of Kabugao, Calanasan, and Conner.
Bulut said the province will now reap the fruits of the infrastructure development with the expected increase in economic activities in the different municipalities that will generate additional employment opportunities for qualified local residents and sources of livelihood that will translate to the improved living condition of the people.
Apayao and Kalinga simultaneously celebrated their 22nd founding anniversary last week after the creation of the two independent provinces by virtue of Republic Act 7878 that divided Kalinga-Apayao into two separate provinces on February 14, 1995.
By HENT