GENERAL SANTOS CITY — More emerging agribusiness areas in Region 12 (Soccsksargen) will be able to penetrate major markets in the next two years through a road access convergence program of the national government.
Ethel Laksmi Gumana, industry development division chief of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 12, said Wednesday that about PHP1.079 billion worth of road projects connecting various agribusiness areas are currently being implemented in several areas of the region.
Gumana said these projects are under the DTI and Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) Road Leveraging Linkages of Industry and Trade (ROLL-IT) program. These comprise 20 road concreting improvement projects that were approved by the two agencies for funding and implementation this year, she said.
Gumana said 10 of the projects worth PHP484.4 million are situated in the first and second districts of North Cotabato; five worth PHP205 million in the first and second districts of South Cotabato; four worth PHP290 million in the first and second districts of Sultan Kudarat; and one worth PHP100 million in Sarangani.
In North Cotabato, the road projects are in support of the rubber, palm oil and coconut industries in Aleosan town; coco husk processing plants, rubber and banana industries in Kidapawan City; rubber sheet processing in Matalam; rubber processing center in Carmen; coconut processing industry in Banisilan; and palm oil and banana industries in Tulunan.
The projects in South Cotabato’s first district are in support of the agribusiness and tourism industries in this city and Polomolok town and the high-value crop plantation areas in Tampakan.
In the second district, the projects are intended to boost coffee, cacao, peanut and corn plantations and the processing areas in Sto. Niño and Lake Sebu, as well as the coffee and cacao processing areas in Tupi.
In Sultan Kudarat, the implemented road projects are seen to improve access to major markets of the bamboo and coffee producers in Lebak; banana and palm oil industries in Tacurong City; pineapple, coffee, rubber, corn and muscovado processing plants in Bagumbayan; and various agri-based industries in President Quirino.
The road concreting project in Sarangani is expected to help expand the agro-industries in Malungon town.
The ROLL-IT program, which was launched in November 2016, focuses on the implementation of “industry developing infrastructure projects in priority economic and manufacturing zones.”
Gumana said it mainly covers roads that will facilitate the transport of “processed agricultural products or unprocessed products that will undergo processing.”
For 2019, she said 48 more proposed road projects worth PHP9.44 billion have been shortlisted by the regional technical working group of DTI and the DPWH.
She said 17 of these are in North Cotabato, nine each in South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat, seven in Sarangani, and three each in the cities of Cotabato and General Santos. (PNA)
