P107 million projects in Cordillera underway

BAGUIO CITY – At least P107 million worth of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s pump priming projects under the Department of Agriculture is now being implemented by the Cordillera office of the Department of Public Works and Highways in the region.

The said amount is allotted for 34 projects in Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, Mountain Province and Baguio City geared to boost economic development.

Engineer Roy L. Manao, DPWH regional director, said projects include farm to market roads and post-harvest facilities to increase productivity of thousands of farmers and lessen transportation cost of agricultural crops from farms to markets.

Out of the pump priming projects issued Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs) to speed up their implementation are Abra Apayao, Baguio City, Benguet, Ifugao with three projects each; Kalinga, 13 and Mountain Province, seven.

Manao said 12 projects were already bidded out by the agency wiyj eight ongoing, one completed while 25 projects are about to be implemented by contractors.

The regional DPWH is set to employ 961 workers for the projects.

With the ongoing projects, 224 workers were already hired by both the government and the project implementers while more workers are yet to be hired once the project will commence in the next several weeks considering the improvement in the prevailing weather condition.

According to Manao, the SAROs for the projects have already been received by the implementing district offices, thus, there is no reason for them not to start the implementation of the different infrastructure projects for welfare of farmers and people living in far flung communities.

Meanwhile, engineer Alexander Castaneda, DPWH assistant regional director and project manager of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) projectssaid pump priming projects are exclusive from the multi-billion infrastructure projects funded by the President, thus, they are working double time to complete the same by the end of the President’s term.

Aside from the agriculture funds released to the district offices, the Cordillera DPWH is hastening completion of P5.2 billion worth of road projects to connect Baguio, Benguet, Mountain Province, Ifugao and Kalinga.