TRECE MARTIRES CITY, Cavite –The Regional Development Council (RDC) in Calabarzon has approved 20 road projects worth PHP1.64 billion under the Roads Leveraging Linkages Industry and Trade (ROLL-IT) Program for fiscal year 2019 of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
DTI- 4A Specialist Mary An Mada said Friday that the vital RDC approval “is a requirement before the proposed projects are passed on to the Central Technical Working Group (CTWG)”, composed of DTI’s Board of Investments (BOI), DPWH and USAID-COMPETE — for further validation, review, consolidation and programming.
The Advancing Philippine Competitiveness (COMPETE) project is a cornerstone of USAID’s Partnership for Growth with the Philippine government that include promotion of trade and investment through the provision of better infrastructure.
For Calabarzon, the 2019 proposal includes 20 road projects in Batangas and Quezon, for a total project length of 78.985 kilometers, Mada said.
The RDC-endorsed ROLL-IT proposed projects for 2019 include three road projects in Batangas province (two of which are in Santo Tomas and one in Balete) and 17 road projects in Quezon — two in Calauag, four in Guinayangan, five in Tagkawayan and six in Gumaca.
The ROLL-IT program is a DTI-DPWH Convergence Program on road connectivity for industry and trade development.
Patterned after the success of Tourism Road Infrastructure Program (TRIP), the ROLL–IT programs aims to facilitate the efficient and more coordinated efforts among the two Departments to identify, prioritize, and implement road access infrastructure leading to various industries and economic zones in a technically-correct and politically-participative process, as well as get inputs and support from the business and civil society as well as local government units (LGUs).
Among the 2018 approved projects under this program in Calabarzon (Region IV-A) include the construction of link road and bridge that will connect Aguinaldo Highway and Governor’s Drive in Dasmariǹas City, Cavite in support of Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) industry; and the construction, widening and rehabilitation of bridge connecting Pulo and Diezmo villages (national road to South Luzon Expressway or SLEX) in support of LISP-1 in the city of Cabuyao, Laguna.
The PHP479.870-million, 19.9-km road projects for 2018 includes concreting of various roads in Alabat, Atimonan, Guinayangan, Lopez and Tagkawayan, all in Quezon province to support its agri-business, coconut processing, handicrafts, food, coffee and other agri-based industries.
The proposed 2019 projects were endorsed during the second quarter 2018 RDC full council meeting hosted by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) held at Hotel Marciano, in Calamba City, Laguna last June 26. (Gladys Pino/PNA)
