The concreting of a 4.2 kilometer farm-to-market road (FMR) worth PHP54.7 million has officially started in the nearby municipality of Titay, this province.

The concreting started following the groundbreaking led by First District Rep. Wilter Wee Palma II on Friday.

Palma said the concreting project will help farmers in terms of improved access in transporting their agricultural products to the town center.

Palma said the concreting project traversing Barangays Suclema and Mate is funded by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) through the agency’s Conditional Matching Grant to Provinces (CMGP) program.

Venancio Ferrer III, provincial planning and development officer, said the province managed to able to avail of the CMGP because of the provincial government’s effectively implementation of all road projects.

Ferrer said the provincial government is compliant with the standards set in the CMGP program, which funds the infrastructure rehabilitation and development.

The DILG has rated the province this as an “outstanding performer”, besting other provinces and cities in the country in the implementation of CMGP program.

“It’s has long been a dream since my childhood because it is really very difficult for us to transport our goods,” said Luzminda Sumalinog, village chairperson of Mate, one of the barangays in the boundaries of Titay and Ipil.

Sumalinog said the farmers in her village had difficulties in selling their agricultural products like rubber, coconut and corn due to the expensive hauling cost.

She added that there were instances the farmers have to carry their goods because the road is not passable, especially during bad weather.

“It took fifty years for our dream to come true,” said Suclema village chairperson Ernie Zamora as thanked Palma for the implementation of the project.

Zamora said they used to travel from and to the town center of Titay by foot, or by riding a carabao or horse, which affect the quality of their farm products as well as their income because of high transportation cost.

He said the project, once completed, will boost the economic activity in Barangay Suclema. (PNA)