BAUKO, Mountain Province – The municipal government continues to aggressively venture on various special income-generating projects to help generate additional funds for the local government that could be plowed back to the people through the implementation of priority development projects and enhance the delivery of basic services in the future.
Mayor Abraham B. Akilit said that one of the local government’s income-generating project that was put in place was the water production center in Suyo, Monamon Norte wherein it was found out during the initial stages of its operation that there is a high demand for water not only among the residents but also from people living in neighboring municipalities of Benguet, and Ilocos Sur.
However, due to the recent monsoon rains that visited the region that washed out the pipelines from the source to the plant, the production had been greatly affected but the local government is bullish in bringing back the full operation of the plant to guarantee the sustained income from the operation of the plant.
With the expected full blast operation of the ceramic filter production plant in Barangay Bila, the local chief expressed confidence that the promotion of the use of ceramic filter to purify the drinking water of the people, especially during calamities, will help in providing the additional source of income not only for the producers of the ceramic filter but also the municipal government which invested for the realization of the facility.
“We have to sustain the implementation of our special income-generating projects to provide the local government with sustainable sources of income to augment the income that will be generated from the tourism sector which was previously identified as the town’s major economic driver,” Mayor Aklit stressed.
He added the planned put up of the Sab-atan Market (SM) in Bauko is now underway because it is one of the programs and projects being eyed by the local government to generate substantial funds that could be infused to lessen the dependence of the locality from its Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) considering that it is 95 percent IRA-dependent.
According to him, the local government, in partnership with concerned government agencies, had been working together with the put up of several local economic enterprise in the municipality that will help in empowering the people to become productive citizens of the community through the jobs that will be generated and the economic activates that will be established in the future.
He said that the local government will not stop in establishing linkages with concerned government agencies, other local governments and the private sector in the desire to replicate best practices in the municipality that is geared towards job generation and increased economic activities that will provide the people with sustainable sources of livelihood to contribute in uplifting their living conditions in the future.
He rallied the people of Bauko to support the initiatives of the local government that are now slowly being put in place to help maximize the potentials of the municipality in becoming one of the major economic drivers in the province in the coming years.
By HENT