BARMM's 'Dream Road' expected to be completed in 2021

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Stakeholders are expecting the completion in 2021 of the “Dream Road” from Marawi City, capital of Lanao del Sur in the Bangsamoro region, to Talakag, Bukidnon in Region 10.

The 54-kilometer road network straddling through Lanao del Sur’s Ditsaan Ramain, Bubong, Buadipuso, Molondo, Maguing and Amai Manabilang towns, is the shortest route linking the cities of Marawi and Cagayan de Oro via Talakag, an upland municipality in Bukidnon.

Cagayan de Oro is the capital of Administrative Region 10.

Lanao de Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong said Saturday the road project will hasten the socio-economic growth of the Maranaw communities along the route.

“Improvements in the local economy will also bolster the security situation in areas that would benefit from this 'Dream Road project’," Adiong said.

The project, being assisted by the government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, was launched by the Lanao del Sur governor's office about five years ago, when the province was still under the now defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The economy of Lanao del Sur was derailed by the adventurism of the extremist Maute group whose acts of terror first sparked deadly conflicts in Butig town in the second district of the province and, subsequently, in Marawi City from May 23 to Oct. 16, 2017.

“Only 820 meters of the highway we call Dream Road remains to be done. We are confident it will be completed in early 2021,” Adiong said.

Members of the Lanao del Sur league of mayors are supporting the implementation of the Dream Road project.

“By all indications, the project would be completed by 2021. We are sure it can boost the economy of Lanao del Sur,” said Butig Mayor Dimnatang Pansar, president of the league of mayors in the province.

Pansar said travel from Marawi City to North Cotabato province in Region 12 shall be faster once the Dream Road project is done.

Adiong said Saturday he is as grateful to the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government-BARMM for providing four towns in Lanao del Sur with a P25 million worth municipal building project each last Thursday.

The recipient local government units are to construct the buildings according to written agreements with the Bangsamoro government.

The mayors of the four Lanao del Sur towns, Butig, Sultan Dumalondog, Lumbaca Unayan and Poona Bayabao, and BARMM Local Government Minister Naguib Sinarimbo signed last Thursday in Cotabato City separate agreements enjoining both sides to cooperate in constructing the municipal buildings.

The MILG-BARMM shall bankroll the projects with funds from the regional coffer.

"These four municipal buildings are important in strengthening governance in these four municipalities,” Adiong said.

The municipality of Pandag in the second district of Maguindanao also got a P25 million worth municipal building project from MILG-BARMM last Thursday.

Pandag Mayor Zihan Mangudadatu and Sinarimbo also forged a memorandum of agreement on the implementation of the project.

Mangudadatu said she will see to it that the building shall be constructed according to specifications.

“We shall finish the project on time,” Mangudadatu said.

There are 116 towns in the Bangsamoro region that covers the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato.

"There are still other BARMM towns that need municipal buildings. We are here to help," Sinarimbo said.