Paracelis, Mountain Province Mayor Marcos G. Ayangwa urged for unity in pushing for development.

He made the call as he welcomed those who participated in the turnover ceremony of the improved Poblacion-Bantay farm-to-market road (FMR) on Nov. 8.

Funded and implemented under the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (DA PRDP), the 3.19-kilometer FMR was the first infrastructure to be completed in Mountain Province.

“Without the unified efforts of the local government, the DA PRDP, and the contractor, we won’t be able to witness this kind of development, which we are more than happy to accept,” added Ayangwa.

“This project went through a lot of consultations, countless geo-tagging, securing certifications from other agencies and other required documents, not to mention the stringent bidding process. It was originally proposed in 2014, approved in 2017, and completed this 2019,” said Provincial Engineer Edward B. Likigan.

DA Regional Executive Director and PRDP regional project director Cameron P. Odsey stressed how the PRDP is a great venue for the local governments to avail of infrastructure projects with large amounts.

He added that the Cordillera accounts for the largest amount of approved infrastructure projects in the cluster which includes Regions 1, 2, 3, and the Cordillera. However, the implementation and disbursement of these projects should be fast-tracked for the additional financing to be granted.

Under the Infrastructure Development component of the PRDP, the improvement of Poblacion-Bantay FMR has a project cost of P41.07 million jointly funded by the World Bank (80 percent), the National Government through the DA (10 percent), and the provincial government (10 percent).

To date, Mountain Province has five approved infrastructure subprojects worth P218M.

For the Enterprise Development component, the province has 15 approved enterprise subprojects amounting P24M and six are already completed.