Talayan, Maguindanao | The concreting of Tamar-Fukol farm to market road (FMR) with bridge subproject worth P199 million was officially inaugurated in a ceremony held in Brgy. Tamar, Talayan, Maguindanao this past October 27, 2020 .

This FMR will be the biggest and the first subproject of the Municipality of Talayan under the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP).

The FMR will have a total length of 9.39 kilometers with 70.56 linear meter for its two bridges that will soon benefit the 781 households of four (4) barangays within the road influence area.

The highlight of the ceremony was the contract signing between the Local Government of Talayan and the FFJJ Construction – the project’s contractor –  which was followed by a ceremonial groundbreaking held at STA. 0+000 of the project.

In his message, PRDP Deputy Project Director for Mindanao Noel T. Provido expressed his gratitude to the people behind the success of this project. He also shared about the upcoming additional financing of DA-PRDP under the AF2-EU grant which they could also avail in the future.

Present during the program were Talayan Mayor Datu Ali Midtimbang Sr.; Vice Mayor Datu Ali Midtimbang Jr.; Guindulungan Municipal Mayor Datu Midpantao Midtimbang Jr.; MAFAR-BARMM Minister Mohammad Yacob, PhD.; RPCO-BARMM Deputy Project Director Ammal B. Solaiman; FFJJ Construction General Manager Osmena Palanggala; Phil. Army Commanding officer LTC Omar Orosco; Camp Badre J2 Group JTFTC-BIAF-MILF Base Commander SH Basir Abdulbayan Sulaiman; PNP Talayan SInsp. Jun Olis; and PRDP PSO Mindanao Deputy Project Director Noel T. Provido.

In previous years, the Municipality of Talayan was a hard to reach conflict-affected area. Locals here had to endure the difficulty in transporting their farm products to the market due too poor road conditions especially during the rainy season.

With this new project from DA-PRDP, the residents of Talayan see a better future for them especially for farmers, believing that accessibility through roads will boost their economic condition, open more opportunities, and continue to promote peace in their community.

In his message Minister Yacob congratulated the Local Government Unit of Talayan for having this project after years of hard work in crafting this proposal.

“This road will provide accessibility to our farmers which will help boost their productivity. I congratulate the LGU of Talayan for its consistent follow up to push this project that takes eight years before fully realized with the help of BARMM Government. Our government is serious in serving the people and this project is one of those,” said Yacob.

The MILF and the Philippine Military represented by Sh. Basir Abdulbayan and LTC Omar Orosco gave their full commitment and support to this project by working together in ensuring the peace and security of the area for fast implementation of the subproject.

Once completed, this project target to increase economic and livelihood opportunities in the area; increase traffic count by 50%; improve and upgrade the existing inter-municipal road network connecting the Barangays of Tamar, Marader, Lanting and Fukol; shorten the travel time from the current maximum travel time of 60 minutes to 30 minutes; reduce hauling cost from an average of P 250.00 per sacks to an average of P 50.00 per sack; and to reduce at least 25% transport losses. (Joy M. Montecalvo | PSO Mindanao)