TUBA, Benguet – The local government will be implementing several infrastructure projects funded under previous appropriations to help improve the delivery of services and guarantee easier access to remote areas of the town for the remaining part of this year.
Mayor Ignacio Rivera said the funds from the local government will serve as their counterpart that will guarantee additional funding from concerned national government agencies for rehabilitation of the rural health unit.
“We want to implement the remaining funded infrastructure projects so that we will be able to make our list of priority projects for next year. We are optimistic that the remaining projects from previous appropriations will definitely help in improving the delivery of basic services to our constituents,” Rivera stressed.
Aside from the rehabilitation of the rural health unit, the local chief executive added other unimplemented projects include the improvement and expansion of the municipal hall, the improvement of the abattoir in Camp 3 and the improvement of the road in Ligay, Camp 1 to provide initial access to the remote barangay of Ansagan.
Mayor Rivera said he will seek the assistance of Philex Mining Corporation to provide a counterpart for the available local funds to improve the status of the road and make it passable so that people going to and from Ansagan will no longer have to take the longer route in Binalonan, Pangasinan just to be able to reach their destination.
He said the local government must have to access available national funds through the assistance of seasoned lawmakers and concerned government agencies so that more development projects will be downloaded and implemented to assist local residents in their various livelihoods and improve their lives.
Rivera expressed his gratitude to the new set of appointed and elected municipal officials for their support to programs and projects aimed at bringing development and the government closer to their constituents.
He added the municipality is blessed because of the various private companies doing business in the different parts of the locality which augment their meagre resources through these companaies’ various corporate social responsibility projects, among other projects initiated for the development of remote villages in the town.
He revealed the situation of Tuba is considered to be peculiar because it is traversed by four national roads, Kennon road, Marcos highway, Baguio-Asin road and Naguilian road, thus, it covers a wide spectrum of land area that is inhabited mostly by indigenous cultural communities with unique requirements for their self-development and thus local officials must think out of the box in the formulation of their development projects and programs.
By Dexter A. See