ILOILO, Feb. 25 (PNA)-– The construction of the longest farm-to-market road in the whole of Visayas is up for bidding next month.
The bidding will finally start after the provincial government received the letter of no objection from World Bank.
The 28-kilometer Imbang Grande-Tagubong-Gemumua Agahon-Agtabo farm-to-market road in Passi City will be paved using a Php 264-million budget.
The road development is one of Department of Agriculture’s priority projects under the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) for this year.
Of the budget, 80 percent will come from World Bank and the remaining 20 percent is divided as counterpart between the national government and local government unit.
According to Planning Officer III Mila Dellomo of the Provincial Planning and Development Office, the invitation to bid has been published in a national newspaper on Feb. 21.
The pre-bid conference, on the other hand, is set on March 11 and the opening of bids will be on March 23 at 9 a.m. at the Provincial Capitol. The bidding is open to all qualified contractors.
From the publication of bid up to the awarding of bid, Dellomo said that the process might take three months as scheduled during their recent pre-procurement conference.
The Environmental Management Bureau in Region 6 granted last month an Environmental Compliance Certificate to the proposed road project.
It has been shortlisted in PRDP since it was in area stricken by Super Typhoon Yolanda in 2013 and the component city was among the top ten swine producers here.
The road begins at the junction of the national highway connecting Passi City and the municipalities of San Enrique and San Rafael.
It traverses Barangays Imbang Grande, Jaguimitan, Salngan, Alimono and will end in Barangay Tagubong.
From Barangay Tagubong, it branches out up to Barangay Gemumua-Agahon and it again expanded up to Barangay Dalicanan and end at Barangay Agtabo.
A total of 4,080 households or 19,187 individuals are expected to directly benefit from the concrete road once it is completed. (PNA)