P326 million released for Benguet road projects

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — The national government has released P326 million earlier earmarked for repair and improvement of four major road networks in this vegetable-producing province to improve the economic activities in depressed area.

The road projects are in line with the pump priming projects of President Arroyo, which will be completed before the end of the year for the people to feel the benefits of improved road condition.

Benguet Rep. Samuel M. Dangwa said that out of the released allocation, P200 million was
allotted for the rehabilitation of the 95-km Acop-Kapangan-Kibungan-Bakun-Buguias road, P53 million for the improvement of the Gorel-Bokod-Kabayan road and at least P73 million for the Itogon-Dalupirip road and the city limit to Mount Sto. Tomas Road.

While Benguet was not able to get projects under the State-of-the-Nation-Address commitments of the President, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) facilitated the inclusion of the pump-priming projects in this year’s national budget to help improve the road condition in the province to boost the smooth transfer of agricultural crops from the farms to the market, particularly at the vegetable trading post here.

According to Dangwa, the improvement of vital road networks will lessen the burden of farmers in the affected towns in the transport of their products to the market, which will translate to increased income for their families.

Aside from improving the living condition of people in the depressed areas, the lawmaker pointed out the improved roads will lead to the discovery of the tourism potentials of the province, especially in the Bokod, Kabayan and Bokod areas as well as in the towns of Tublay, Kapangan, Kibungan and Bakun.

The improvement of road networks in the different parts of the region is integrated under the Cordillera Road Improvement Project, blueprint of the development of all roads, which was crafted by the Cordillera Regional Development Council two decades ago.

Among the programmed works for the four multi-million-peso road projects in the province include paving or concreting, construction of drainage canals and slope protection walls, widening and setting up of appropriate road signages for the guidance of the motorists.

However, Dangwa appealed to the residents in the towns affected by the on-going road projects to bear with the inconveniences caused by the various activities of implementers since they will surely enjoy the benefits of better roads once the projects will be completed in due time.

The RDC-Car envisions the existence of improved roads in the Cordillera linking the region with other nearby areas of Regions I and II in order to spark an economic boom in the area to realize the aim of the Arroyo administration to establish the North Luzon Agribusiness Growth Quadrangle. – Dexter A. See