Benguet Rep. Eric Yap said a P150 million road improvement project will be implemented to widen and concrete the road leading to Lusod, Kabayan, Benguet.
“When I visited the far-flung barangay earlier, the municipality has requested for road improvement to ease the people’s plight,” Yap said during the opening of the 122nd foundation anniversary of Benguet.
The road project to be implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways could be connected to nearby Nueva Vizcaya once completed.
Kabayan Mayor Florante Bantales, Jr. thanked the lawmaker for securing the budget for the 13-kilometer road project.
There is an existing rough road towards the barangay but only four-wheel drive vehicle could pass through it.
Garage vehicles would be willing to ferry passengers to Lusod but only until barangay Tawangan, where the concrete pavement ends.
Bantales said the road improvement would help the accessibility of residents in Lusod, which has around 1,000 population.
Lusod residents who have an appointment at the municipal hall at Barangay Poblacion Central would need to travel a day earlier and spend the night near the town hall due to the inaccessibility of the road.
“On the other hand, we fear that there would be unscrupulous activities that might abuse our natural resources in Lusod, since the area is still thickly forested,” Bantales said.
Lusod, which is one of host communities of Mount Pulag, is rich with natural resources with its mossy forest.
Yap said there is an additional P20 million funding for the continuous concreting of the newly opened road going to Barangay Tacadang in Kibungan.
He said other barangays that needed road improvements are also on the pipeline once funding is available. – Ofelia C. Empian
April 21, 2024
