PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur—The Department of Agriculture has scheduled this year the concreting of at least 61 kilometers of farm-to-market roads worth close to P700 million across the provinces of Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay, an agriculture executive said.
Zamboanga Peninsula Agriculture Regional Director Constancio G. Alama said the agency has been providing vital assistance to the three local government units under the Philippine Rural Development Project to hasten the completion of the road projects.
Alama said PRDP “is a six-year DA national project which aims to establish a modern, value chain-oriented and climate-resilient agriculture and fishery sector.”
Alama added that Zamboanga del Sur initially proposed two of five FMR sub-projects, namely, the paving of Josefina-Mahayag to Molave segment covering 18.2 kilometers and concreting of Gapasan, Buenaswerte-Navalan covering 11.9 kms.
The full paving of the 30.088-km FMRs needs a total cost of some P299.6 million or close to 40 percent of the estimated P700 million worth of road concreting in Zamboanga Peninsula, Alama said.
He added that Zamboanga del Norte requires P188.3 million for the pavement of 14.4-km FMRs in Tampilisan from the villages of Galingon, Balacbaan and Tilubon.
Alama said Zamboanga Sibugay was shared over P170 million for the concreting of 16.230 kms from Poblacion Payao to Guintolan village.