GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/05 April) — Development planners in South Cotabato are pushing for the funding and implementation this year of around P791 million worth of “tourism” road projects in the province.
Cesar Sulit Jr., provincial tourism officer, said in a statement the road projects were recently endorsed by the Provincial Development Council (PDC) as among the province’s priority tourism infrastructure initiatives for this year.
He said the projects comprise nine road components that were earlier proposed by the provincial government and local tourism stakeholders.
“These (road) projects were mainly intended to boost the ongoing development of various tourism resources in the province,” he said.
Sulit, who presented the projects proposals during a recent PDC meeting, said the road projects are located in Koronadal City and in the municipalities of Lake Sebu, Tupi and T’boli.
In Lake Sebu, he said the approved projects were the construction of a bridge and concreting of the 2.5-kilometer (km) Poblacion, Lake Sebu-T’daan Kini Spring road; 5.25-km circumferential road and national secondary road junction of the Surallah-Lake Sebu-Maitum-Bensidon-Bacdulong road; and, 4.68-km circumferential road, national secondary road junction of Surallah-LakeSebu-Maitum-Seloton-Seven Falls-Purok Rosas-Lahit road.
The road projects in Lake Sebu were seen to further boost the development and promotion of the area’s three famed lakes, seven waterfalls and spring resources.
In T’boli, the endorsed projects were the improvement of the 29.2-km road that connects Barangay Poblacion with Barangay Salacafe and the Lake Holon-Mt. Melibingoy area; construction and widening of the 3-km road covering Barangay Laconon to Sitio Bakngeb River; concreting and widening of 6-km road leading to Hidak and K’mebel Falls as well as the 15-km road from Poblacion to Barangay Lamhaku that leads to the Lamhaku Hot Spring.
The other approved projects were the concreting of the 11.5–km road from junction national highway to Purok Bagong Silang in Tupi that leads to the area’s tarsier sanctuary and the construction of the 2-km junction national highway junction-Paraiso-Sitio Mariveles road that leads to the Paraiso Golf Club in Koronadal City.
“The total length of these road projects is 79.13 kilometers. Based on the estimated cost of P10 million per kilometer, the entire project cost reaches a total of P791.13 million,” Sulit said.
The official said they are working for the start of the nine road projects before the end of the year.
He said the local government is working for the funding of the projects by the Department of Tourism and other funding agencies.
Sulit said the road projects will be implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)