DPWH-S. Leyte completes road leading to trade center

HINUNANGAN, Southern Leyte, Sept. 28 (PIA) -- The Department of Public Works and Highways - Southern Leyte District Engineering Office has finished construction of a vital road link in this municipality that connects agricultural producers to potential buyers.

In a report, the SLDEO stated that it completed construction of the P17 million, 1.2 kilometer access road that traversed the barangays Patong, Ilaya, Nava, and San Juan of this municipality.

Specifically, the road aims to link these communities to raw material consolidators of coconut oil producer SC Global and agribusiness firm Kennemer Foods International in Sogod town, the report said.

With the project finished, "we expect residents living along the alternative route to have a faster and easier way of transporting their agricultural goods to trade centers," District Engineer Ma. Margarita Junia was quoted as saying.

She added that her office had a convergence with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and identified sites that need access roads which, hopefully, can spur development in the communities and eventually contribute to the holistic increase of the provincial income.

The Hinunangan road link project began in February, its civil works regularly monitored to ensure on-time completion, DE Junia also said.

It was funded through the approved finance road projects leading to different industry and economic zones, also known as Roads Leveraging Linkages for Industry and Trade (ROLL IT) Program, a convergence of DTI and DPWH agencies, a scheme patterned after that of DOT-DPWH convergence program.

Hinunangan is a second class municipality, whose residents are dependent primarily on agricultural production, fisheries, coconut industry, rice production, livestock, and poultry. (ldl/mmp/PIA8-Southern Leyte, with SLDEO report)