SADANGA, Mountain Province – The P60 million road bridge linking the remote village of Betwagan to the Bontoc-Tabuk national highway will be completed by May next year to improve the accessibility to the barangay that will spur the economic activities in the community.
Mayor Adolf Ganggangan stated that the ongoing construction of the road bridge was a collective effort of the municipal government, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU), Rep. Maximo Dalog, Jr. and Benguet Rep. Eric Yap.
Currently, Betwagan residents have access to national road through an existing footbridge which makes it difficult to bring to their community construction materials and also to transport their products to the market.
Mayor Ganggangan claimed that, for example, Betwagan residents have to pay P100 additional hauling fee from the end of the road to their community which is truly a burden to the people wanting to construct or improve their houses.
He disclosed that the ongoing road bridge is around 5 meters wide and 60 meters long which will surely pave the way for convenient travel to and from the Betwagan community and will translate to improved living conditions for the people who long awaited for the construction of the road bridge.
According to him, once the road bridge is completed, the hauling cost of construction materials will be significantly reduced by 95 percent because the road end will now be much nearer to the houses of the Betwagan residents.
Further, he emphasized that the transportation of the agricultural produce of the residents from their farms to the nearest market could be immediately done with much lesser transportation cost and easier access of the people to the market.
The municipal chief executive underscored that in the early 1970s when there was no structure linking the Betwagan community to the nearest road network, people have to swim through the Chico river for them to go to the opposite side of the village for them to transact business with other people and to go to other places outside their community and vice versa.
In behalf of the people and officialdom of the municipality, Mayor Ganggangan expressed his gratitude to all those who were instrumental in ensuring the provision of the funds for the realization of the road bridge project which improves the accessibility to and from barangay Betwagan.
He said that businesses in the Betwagan community are expected to significantly improve once accessibility is facilitated with the completion of the much awaited bridge.
