Toboso Farm to Market Road: From Blueprint to Reality through PRDP
The Municipality of Toboso is a 3rd class municipality and one of the component LGUs in Negros Occidental. It is bounded on the southwest by the Municipiality of Calatrava, northwest by the City of Sagay, north by Municipality of Escalante,and east by TanonStrait [1]. The municipality contributes to the muscovado industry of Negros Occidental, because of its vast plantation of sugarcane and the presence of the two muscovado mills in the area.
The existing road from Brgy. Bug-ang to Sitio Magtuod to Sitio Vergara is a 4.10 km gravel/earth road type. The usual traffic compositions are trucks, motorcycles, service vehicles and draft animals. The road is used for transporting truckloads of sugarcane, for daily commuters going to Sitio Vergara Elementary School and for the people living in the vicinity going to their day to day transactions. Since the road composition is made up of gravel and earth, traveling is very hard using conventional vehicles. There are certain areas that are deemed unpassable and people resorted to walking. The road is impassable to the traveller during of rainy season. Mud are stirred and pits are created every time trucks and heavy vehicles passed through. Travel time is slow and hauling costs increase because of the road condition.
After a series of thorough studies, assessments, validations and analyses, the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental in partnership with the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) proposed a subproject entitled: Rehabilitation of Brgy. Bug-ang to SitioMagtuod to Sitio Vergara Farm to Market Road (FMR). The Municipality of Toboso was chosen to be the recipient of the project. Between the proposed sites, there is an existing Buttoms-Up Budgeting (BUB) FMR. The rehabilitation of the existing road will greatly improve the transportation of the commodities passing by reducing the travel time, transport losses and the hauling cost. Vehicle access in the area will also increase after the implementation of the subproject.
The subproject will consist of a 4.10-km. rehabilitation of the FMR from gravel/earth to concrete road and oneoverflow bridge. The design standards are the following: A carriageway width of 4.00m PCCP, a 0.20m base course and the shoulder width of both sides of carriageway of 1.50m each. The total project cost is Php 38,921,000.00. The cost will be shared by PRDP and the PLGU of Negros Occidental. The direct beneficiaries of the project are the 2290 people of Brgy. Bug-ang, Toboso. [2]
Upon the completion and submission of the necessary documents, the subproject undergone series of screenings and evaluations . Dr. Joyce S. Wendam, head of RPCO 6, spearheaded the review together with the technical people of RPCO 6 on June 27, 2014 at Iloilo Midtown Hotel. The PPMIU of Negros Occidental, headed by Ms. Marilyn Sanogal presented the feasibility study, the social and economic sensitivity, and the detailed engineering design results of the subproject. The technical people of RPCO 6 reviewed the documents and gave their technical comments and relevant feedback regarding the project. Suggestions and feedback for the important revisions of the documents of the subproject were noted by the PPMIU.
Another review followed after the previous,and this was held on July 4, 2014at Iloilo Midtown hotel. Key people from NPCO, PCO-Visayas and RPCO 6 were present during this event. This review was to iron-out the details of the subproject. PPMIU of Negros Occidental presented the subproject, which included the revisions made from the previous review. After the presentation, Engr. Eric Mammag, alternate component head of I-Build of NPCO commented, gave feedback and tips tothe group to further improve the presentation and content of the subproject. Additional revisions were made to attune the documents for the RPAB presentation.
The RPAB meeting was conducted on July 9, 2014. The RPAB is consists of different concerned government agencies. Dir. Larry P. Nacionales, the Regional Executive Director of the Department of Agriculture, Dir. Edilberto Tayao, Regional Director of the Department of Public Works and Highways, Dir. Wilhelm Malones, Regional Director of the Department of Trade and Industry, representatives from Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Department of Interior and Local Government, and Dr. Joyce S. Wendam, Regional Technical Director of DA and head of RPCO 6, Hon. Richard Jaojoco, Mayor of the Municipality of Toboso and the PPMIU of Negros Occidental were present. The subproject was presented by the PPMIU to the body. The RPAB members cited their comments and reactions. After series of discussions and inspections of the documents, RPAB finally gave their approval.
With the realization of this subproject,a direct impact to the increase in the muscovado industry production is underway: The 4.10 km gravel/earth road connecting Brgy. Bug-ang to Sitio Magtuod to Sitio Vergara will be concretize. Travel time of commuters will be significantly reduced. And reduction of transport losses and hauling expenses will also materialized. /INFOACE RPCO 6/
[1] http://www.negros-occ.gov.ph
[2] Executive Summary document of Negros Occidental’s PPMIU used during RPAB presentation
