For many years, the residents in the upland barangays of Waterfall, Luparan, Labon,Lapla, and Osmeña endured the difficulties brought about by lack of accessible roads. All of that stands to end with the 15.1 kilometer “Rehabilitation of Waterfall-Osmeña FMR with PSCG Bridge” sub-project of DA-PRDP.

The poor physical condition of the road network of the barangays affected by the sub-project resulted in high maintenance costs on the part of public utility vehicles plying this route, forcing them to charge the riding public higher fares which subsequently led to higher cost of farm inputs and higher hauling cost of farm produce, notwithstanding the heavy damage to farmers’ crops during transit.

Aileen Paotan, a resident of Brgy. Waterfall for 27 years, witnessed several accidents caused by muddy roads during the rainy season.

“It was really difficult before, especially during rainy days,”  said Paotan. “ It was muddy and there were many motorcycle accidents. We almost lost hope that this road would ever be concreted. Now, we can say that dreams do come true and we already noticed some changes even while the construction is still on-going.”

As direct beneficiaries of this sub-project, residents were given clear and concrete assistance that supports the concept of people empowerment and self-reliance where every citizen possesses sufficient material resources, capabilities, and opportunities for sustained growth and equitable development.   

The rehabilitation of this farm-to-market road will help improve the mobility of the residents and farmers and the transport of their farm produce in and out of the sub-project barangays.  The improvement of the road network is envisioned to decrease transportation costs of agricultural inputs and outputs, thereby increasing farmers land productivity and income which would result in improved quality of life in the  sub-project barangays.

This 15.100 kilometer Waterfall-Osmeña FMR with PSCG Bridge is divided into two packages. Package 1 has a total of 7.56 kilometers with reinforced concrete pipe culvert (RCPC) and reinforced concrete box culvert (RCBC), and 2 prestressed concrete girders (PSCG) bridges which is now under implementation with a contract cost of P132. 97 million. Package 2, on the other hand, is still under review for the issuance of No Objection Letter 2 (NOL2).

The total project cost of the two packages is P250.97 million with a 4,908 hectares road influence area that will benefit a total of 2,260 households.  

Once completed, the farm-to-market road is expected to improve all existing economic activities and pave the way for more enterprises to come in the sub-project’s area. (Joy Montecalvo)