DAVAO DEL NORTE, 23 July (PIA) – The provinces of Davao del Norte, Davao de Oro and Davao Oriental will be more connected with  interprovincial roads being built by the Department of Public Works  and Highways (DPWH).

Guesting  in the July 22 episode of Kapihan sa DavNor, DPWH Regional Information Officer Dean I. Ortiz mentioned the Nabunturan to Laak Road  in Davao De Oro; Nabunturan to New Corella Road (Davao De Oro to Davao Del Norte); Monkayo to Boston (Davao De Oro to Davao Oriental), and New Bataan to Baganga Road (Davao De Oro to Davao Oriental).

Assured of budget, these interprovincial roads “are the missing links and bypasses” among the  three  adjacent provinces that Ortiz considered as  essential in the economic and tourism development, and in trade and commerce.

In the five years of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term, DPWH XI has been allotted P245.78 billion budget which enabled 6,399 projects in the whole region.

For this year alone, it has a budget of P54.49B for 1,501 projects. Davao De Oro has a share of P9.28B,; Davao Del Norte; P6.4B; and Davao Oriental has P7.7B.

Ortiz further explained that the road infrastructure projects would  also serve as major portals to other regions. As he mentioned, the completion of Davao Del Norte to Bukidnon Road and Bukidnon to Compostela Road that will give locales of Region X easier access to other provinces of Region XI.

Meanwhile,  Ortiz agreed to the notion that opening of these major roads in these provinces will become an instrument for peace.

Ortiz added that the presence of communist terrorist groups (CTGs) will be minimized in these areas once these roads shall have become operational.

Ortiz appeased public worries about continuation of these projects during change of national administration as these have been registered as multi-year projects, and that funding have been considered as  “locked-in”, he explained.   (Ezri Coda, PIA XI Davao del Norte/jmda)