The ceremonial turn-over of the key of responsibility from the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project to the local government unit of Pontevedra, Negros Occidental.

PRDP turns over 45M road to Negros Occidental town

Date Published: September 21, 2018

Residents living along the stretch of Brgy. Gomez to Brgy. Zamora of Pontevedra, Negros Occidental can now heave a sigh of relief with the completion of the concreted road in the area.

The Rehabilitation/Concreting of Brgy. Gomez – Zamora farm-to-market road (FMR) is an infrastructure subproject of the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) and the Province of Negros Occidental amounting to Php45,075,352.42.

The Municipality of Pontevedra is located in the 4th District and southwest part of the Province. It has one of the richest agricultural areas in the province where 80% of its land area is planted with sugarcane.

The project  brought additional blessing: accessibility to secondary education. Through the PRDP road, the provincial government has committed to allot funds for the additional construction of secondary school facility in the area.

“My heart is so full right now. In our current situation, we only have three existing classrooms for high school. The Province, through Governor Maranon, will provide three more additional classrooms. Hopefully, this will materialize soon so that by June, high school students need not go to La Castellana anymore,” said Pontevedra Mayor Jose Benito Alonso.

“This is an immediate off-shoot result of the FMR. After our hardships, we are reaping what we have sown,” he added.

The 3.26-kilometer FMR covers eight “puroks” of barangays Gomez and Zamora and affects a population of 2,032 beneficiaries.

“With this road, we are expecting that there will be increase in economic activities in this area. One glaring impact we experienced is the reduction of travel time by half. Of course, with the concreted road, there is increase in traffic. This will prompt residents to purchase motorcycles, and even four-wheeled vehicles. Also, since this is a farm-to-market road, I hope that transport cost of your agricultural products will be lessened by 50%,” said PRDP Project Support Office – Visayas Project Director Remelyn R. Recoter.

For his part, Zamora village chief Alfredo Verona said they “were blessed, indeed. No one thought that we would see a concrete road covering two barangays. Brgy. Gomez and Zamora are agricultural land, and it is fitting that we need a good road to transport our agricultural products. To the World Bank, DA, and the Province of Negros Occidental, we are grateful that all of our dreams are fulfilled today.”

“Barangays Brgy. Gomez and Zamora are agricultural lands, and it is fitting that we need a good road to transport our produce,” said Brgy. Zamora village chief Alfredo Verona.

Meanwhile, Director Recoter urged the local government unit as well as the barangay council to ensure the maintenance of the road.

Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Maranon, Jr. and Department of Agriculture – 6 and Philippine Rural Development Project – Visayas Project Director Remelyn R. Recoter lead the ribbon-cutting during the turn-over of the Rehabilitation/Concreting of Brgy. Gomez – Zamora farm-to-market road.

Of the total project cost, 80 percent or P36.088 million is covered by the loan proceeds from the World Bank while the national government through the Department of Agriculture, and the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental will provide counterparts at 10 percent or P4.511 million each. (September Noon A. Macahilo, PSO InfoACE)

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