In Northern Samar
CATARMAN, Northern Samar- Works for the concreting of a farm-to-market road in Rosario, this province, is to start as its groundbreaking was held on February 13.
The 2.96 kilometers farm-to-market road project will cover the villages of Salhag and Kailingan with a fund cost of P50 million.
The road project is a component of the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) of the Department of Agriculture with 80% of the funding coming from the World Bank.
The provincial government of Northern Samar, thru Governor Jose Ong and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, shouldered the 10 percent equity amounting to P4.98 million for the said project.
The same amount was given by the national government as its counterpart.
The road project is expected to reduce travel time from and to Rosario town proper, increase traffic count in the subproject area, open up potential production areas, and reduce hauling cost and transport losses of crops.
The village councils of Salhag and Rosario, whose main crops include copra, rice and banana, expressed their heartfelt gratitude for the farm-to-market road project.
Present during the groundbreaking ceremony were Mayor Gerardo Miranda and the entire members of the town council with environmental planner Retchel Depena giving the project brief.
Regional Executive Director of the Department of Agriculture-8 Milo Delos Reyes, who is also the project director of PRDP, also graced the momentous event.
Mayor Miranda expressed his gratitude for all officials and government agencies that provided the support on the project.
“I am very grateful to the hardworking people of the municipality of Rosario for lobbying for this project and preparing the pertinent documents to make the Salhag-Kailingan farm-to-market road a reality. I am also equally thankful to the provincial government of Northern Samar, under the stewardship of Gov. Ong for immediately responding to our request for a counterpart budget when our municipal local government unit could not allocate the same for this (project),” he said.
Also present were Vice Governor Gary Lavin, representing Gov. Ong, and board members Vicvic Singson and Neil Hernandez, representing Reps. Edwin Ongchuan and Raul Daza, respectively.
“One thing I learned as I was visiting the far-flung areas of the province is that we lack a lot of farm-to-market roads. In fact, this is one of the reasons why we consistently rank among the poorest provinces in the country. This farm-to-market road project will contribute greatly to the economy of our province and way of life of our fellow Nortehanons,” Lavin said.
(TITO TEPACE)
