LA TRINIDAD, Benguet—Some P3.2 billion worth of infrastructure projects are currently being implemented in the province to improve its links with its neighbors and spur socio-economic growth, Benguet Rep. Ronald M. Cosalan said Monday.
Some projects are being readied for implementation this year to help improve inter-municipal, inter-provincial and inter-regional linkages, and spur growth in Benguet’s remote villages, Cosalan added.
The lawmaker said P2.95 billion have been programmed for the rehabilitation, upgrading, and development of various national roads, and more than P100 million for the improvement of farm to market roads.
Another P50 million has been earmarked for the construction of school buildings, while other funds were sourced from various government agencies for soft and hard infrastructure projects provincewide.
We continue to get more than the province’s share of the available resources of the national government,” Cosalan stressed.
“We believe almost all of our national roads will be fully paved within the next several years because of the substantial funds being infused by concerned government agencies primarily to improve the condition of roads leading to the countryside,” he added.
Benguet is the source of over 80 percent of the highland vegetables being sold around the country, Cosalan noted.
Farmers will primarily benefit from the improved condition of many road networks in the province because the transport of agricultural crops from the farms to the trading centers will be faster and easier, the three-term congressman said.
Better roads result in lesser expenses on the maintenance of vehicles, Cosalan said. Coupled with lesser damage to crops being transported, the produce can thus can be sold at better prices, he added.
The funds, Cosalan said, were equitably distributed to the various unfinished national roads and secondary national arterial roads like the Acop-Kapangan-Kibungan-Bakun-Buguias Road, the Baguio-Asin-San Pascual-Aringay Road, and the Abatan-Manhoyohoy-Tinoc boundary road, among others.
They would interconnect the roadlines with the ones in the neighboring towns of Tinoc, Ifugao and Aringay, La Union, thereby providing alternate routes for motorists wanting to use the new roads to visit the different parts of the Cordillera, Region I and Region II, Cosalan said.
He assured provincial and municipal officials that he will work closely with the various government agencies to make sure there will be additional projects for implementation in the province so that its major road systems could be fully developed by 2019.
The insufficient number of school buildings would also be addressed, while more farm to market roads will be opened to sustain the improvement of the agriculture sector, Cosalan added.
“Infrastructure development will be the primary driver of socio-economic development in the province because there will be increased economic activities in the remote communities if the said areas are linked by good roads,” he pointed out.