FMR PROJECT. San Remigio town is hoping for the start of the construction of the farm-to-market road (FMR) in Barangay Bulan-bulan soon, Mayor Margarito Mission Jr. said on Friday (May 21, 2021). Antique’s provincial engineering office is preparing the road’s detailed engineering plan. (PNA file photo by Annabel Consuelo J. Petinglay)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA – Antique’s provincial engineering office is working on the detailed engineering plan of a PHP20 million farm-to-market road (FMR) that will be implemented as a priority project under the Barangay Development Program of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in the province.
“We are now preparing for the detailed engineering plan, which we hope to finish by the end of this month,” Provincial Engineer Inocencio Dajao said in an interview on Friday.
The project recipient, Barangay Bulan-bulan in San Remigio town, is 5 km. away from Barangay Aningalan, the last paved road from the town proper.
Dajao said an ocular inspection has been conducted on the possible site.
“The detailed engineering plan will include the FMR design, slope protection, drainage, and other engineering works to be undertaken,” he said.
During their online meeting on Thursday, it was discussed that the local government of San Remigio would secure the environment clearance certificate from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources because the FMR would pass through timberland.
“There will be more or less 200 trees that will be cut down,” Dajao said.
He, however, added that they have yet to estimate the length of the FMR that would be covered by the PHP20 million allocation.
“Once we have the detailed engineering then we will know how far the fund could extend,” Dajao said.
In a separate interview, San Remigio Mayor Margarito Mission said he is hopeful that the FMR construction would start as soon as the detailed engineering plan is finished.
Mission said the people of Barangay Bulan-bulan, which is facing an insurgency problem, had been desiring to have a road that would give their village access to the town proper.
The project was identified through a barangay development planning workshop conducted last year in preparation for the submission of project proposals.
It was then submitted to the provincial government and endorsed to the Regional Development Council.
The BDP is a hallmark program of the NTF-ELCAC with the end goal of bringing development to former conflict-prone communities.
On Dec. 4, 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte issued Executive Order 70 creating the NTF-ELCAC, institutionalizing a whole-of-nation approach towards obtaining sustainable peace in the hope of putting an end to more than 50 years of local communist insurgency. (PNA)
