NEDA pushes Cordillera Roads Improvement Project

MANILA, Philippines - The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is pushing for the Cordillera Roads Improvement Project as part of the government’s Economic Resiliency Plan.

NEDA-CAR director Juan Ngalob said this project will provide a major road network and further integrate and interconnect the region with its neighbors.

“The existing transportation system was oriented towards centers of Regions I and II. Through the CRIP, it is hoped that the different parts of the region become accessible to each other,” he said.

The project involves building a north-south trunkline and an east-west lateral connection from Region I to Region II, passing through the Cordillera. From 2001 to 2008, two components of the project have been completed — the 80-kilometer La Trinidad-Mt. Data section, a World Bank-assisted project costing P1.2 billion and completed in 2005; and the 68-kilometer Baguio-Aritao Road or the Benguet-Nueva Vizcaya road, a Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)-supported project costing P1.56 billion and completed in 2008.

Ongoing components of the project are the 90-kilometer Mt. Data-Bontoc-Banaue Road, costing P1.75 billion and the 98-kilometer Bontoc-Lubuagan-Tabuk Road, which costs P1.37 billion.  Both projects are locally funded under the State of the Nation Address-North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle (SONA-NLAQ). Another ongoing component is the 32-kilometer JBIC-supported Abatan-Mankayan-Cervantes Road (Benguet-Ilocos Sur Road), costing P506,000. All these projects are expected to be finished this year.

The other components of the project to be programmed are the Cagayan-Apayao-Ilocos Norte Road (Tuao-Kabugao-San Nicolas Road), whose feasibility study has been completed by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), while the Abra-Kalinga Road and the Cervantes-Sabangan Road components will be re-submitted to the NEDA-Investment Coordination Committee for foreign assistance.