REPORT BY MICHAEL MEDINA
ROADS are important not only for travel and relocation but it can also be seen as the “real drivers of development,” MEDCo Usec. Virgilio Leyretana Sr. said.
Farm-to-market roads, for example, drive farmers to produce something to be harvested, collected and bring in to the market,” he told journalists.
“Circumferential roads and bridges facilitate movement and mobility of people and make the goods people bring at low cost. Roads really are a big incentive to producers and boost Mindanao’s development, he added.
Leyretana visited Pagadian last week for the 12th Mindanao Super Region inter-Agency meeting with other stakeholders and attended also by provincial and city officials led by Rep. Antonio Cerilles, Gov. Aurora Cerilles and Mayor Samuel Co as hosts.
“Roads, for law enforcers, make it easy for patrolling the barangays,” Leyretana continued, “greatly benefitting the community,” along with big infrastructure projects like airport rehabilitations all over the island.
The undersecretary mentioned that portions of roads from Surigao to Bislig need improvement, including the Sibuco-Siraway network.
“With good roads, Mindanao will not be anymore a fragmented geographical region. Farming, tourism, trading and commerce will then expand. The integrated system of tourism development will boost job generation and everybody lives,” Leyretana said.
“What Mindanao needs today is a logistical hub for the import and export of goods and distribute these to other regions. We also need to build lateral roads and make it a holistic and balanced development,” he stressed.
Raw 2007 data of infrastructure utilities from the Department of Public Works and Highways stated that some 4,359.06 kilometers in length are classified as paved national roads in Mindanao while another 2,650.63 are unpaved national roads.
“With this, Mindanao will then be a self-sustaining, integrated, borderless sconomy. But we first need to protect our environemtn, rivers, lakes because no living things will survive without these,” he said.
Meanwhile, Cerilles commented that in setting up developments in Mindanao, population frequency should be considered.
“We should look into the poverty incidence in the island and the disparity between the poor and rich,” the congressman said.
In her 2006 State-of-the-Nation Address, President Gloria Arroyo unveiled the concept of “super regions,” noting the importance of grouping selected regions and provinces by their economic strengths to stimulate economic growth and development.
Arroyo’s EO No. 561 dated Aug. 19, 2006 mandated the formation of Mindanao Super Regions (MSRs) to strap up the island’s competitive advantage in agribusiness, through major infrastructure support.
MSR projects, to date, have a total budget of P62.555 billion until 2010 for the implementation of its programs, projects and activities. The whole amount does not include those for additional projects.
A MEDco briefing paper stated that there are still unfinished businesses in Mindanao like the widespread and chronic poverty, the need to address long-standing conflict, strengthening of weak institutions and the need to increase public and private investments.
ROADS are important not only for travel and relocation but it can also be seen as the “real drivers of development,” MEDCo Usec. Virgilio Leyretana Sr. said.
Farm-to-market roads, for example, drive farmers to produce something to be harvested, collected and bring in to the market,” he told journalists.
“Circumferential roads and bridges facilitate movement and mobility of people and make the goods people bring at low cost. Roads really are a big incentive to producers and boost Mindanao’s development, he added.
Leyretana visited Pagadian last week for the 12th Mindanao Super Region inter-Agency meeting with other stakeholders and attended also by provincial and city officials led by Rep. Antonio Cerilles, Gov. Aurora Cerilles and Mayor Samuel Co as hosts.
“Roads, for law enforcers, make it easy for patrolling the barangays,” Leyretana continued, “greatly benefitting the community,” along with big infrastructure projects like airport rehabilitations all over the island.
The undersecretary mentioned that portions of roads from Surigao to Bislig need improvement, including the Sibuco-Siraway network.
“With good roads, Mindanao will not be anymore a fragmented geographical region. Farming, tourism, trading and commerce will then expand. The integrated system of tourism development will boost job generation and everybody lives,” Leyretana said.
“What Mindanao needs today is a logistical hub for the import and export of goods and distribute these to other regions. We also need to build lateral roads and make it a holistic and balanced development,” he stressed.
Raw 2007 data of infrastructure utilities from the Department of Public Works and Highways stated that some 4,359.06 kilometers in length are classified as paved national roads in Mindanao while another 2,650.63 are unpaved national roads.
“With this, Mindanao will then be a self-sustaining, integrated, borderless sconomy. But we first need to protect our environemtn, rivers, lakes because no living things will survive without these,” he said.
Meanwhile, Cerilles commented that in setting up developments in Mindanao, population frequency should be considered.
“We should look into the poverty incidence in the island and the disparity between the poor and rich,” the congressman said.
In her 2006 State-of-the-Nation Address, President Gloria Arroyo unveiled the concept of “super regions,” noting the importance of grouping selected regions and provinces by their economic strengths to stimulate economic growth and development.
Arroyo’s EO No. 561 dated Aug. 19, 2006 mandated the formation of Mindanao Super Regions (MSRs) to strap up the island’s competitive advantage in agribusiness, through major infrastructure support.
MSR projects, to date, have a total budget of P62.555 billion until 2010 for the implementation of its programs, projects and activities. The whole amount does not include those for additional projects.
A MEDco briefing paper stated that there are still unfinished businesses in Mindanao like the widespread and chronic poverty, the need to address long-standing conflict, strengthening of weak institutions and the need to increase public and private investments.