NEWS
Ilagan-Divilacan Road Project
DENR grants ECC; Reg'l Council unanimously approves
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) through the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) has issued the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) for the Provincial Government of Isabela’s proposed Rehabilitation and Improvement of the Ilagan–Divilacan Road Project even as the Regional Development Council (RDC 2) and the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC 2) unanimously endorsed the same road proposal.
In his letter dated July 27, 2012 to Governor Faustino G. Dy III, lawyer Juan Miguel T. Cuna, OIC, Director of EMB, informed the latter that the Provincial Government of Isabela (PGI) had fully satisfied all the requirements for the issuance of ECC. He, thus, enjoined the proponent for the implementation of all the measures presented in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) intended to protect and mitigate the project’s adverse impacts on community health, welfare and the environment as the project is pursued. “Environmental considerations shall be incorporated in all phases and aspects of the Projects”, the letter further stated.
Earlier, the RDC 2 and RPOC 2 in Joint Resolution No. 02-01-2012, dated March 22, 2012, unanimously endorsed the same road rehabilitation and improvement project stating, among others, that the completion of the Ilagan-Divilacan Road improvement project would largely aid the delivery of basic social services and disaster relief, infrastructure development and other necessary programs in the four coastal towns of Isabela. Both Councils recognized the fact due to the absence of a road the residents of the coastal municipalities of Isabela have long been deprived of safe and affordable transportation and regular delivery of basic services from the national government agencies and local government units as well.
The unanimous endorsement did not come as a walk in the park. Before the proposal came under scrutiny by both regional councils, it also went through a series of rigorous deliberations in joint meetings of the Infrastructure Development Committee and Regional Committee on Sustainable Development. Both bodies are regular committees of the RDC.
The Ilagan-Divilacan Road Proposal consists of the rehabilitation and improvement of an old and abandoned logging road that starts from Barangay Sindon Bayabo of the City of Ilagan and ends in Barangay Dicatian of the Municipality of Divilacan. It has for its length a total of 82.004 kilometers, 28 strecth of which or an equivalent of 42 hectares, will traverse the Philippines’ biggest natural park, the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park (NSMNP). The Protected Area Management Board of the NMSNP had likewise favorably endorsed the road rehabilitation and improvement proposal. Despite the huge potentials of Isabela’s coastal municipalities, the area is being left behind due to their almost extreme economic and physical isolation. So to address the obtaining situation, the Provincial Government of Isabela through its Special Project Committee on Isabela Coastal Development (SPCICD) has identified the rehabilitation and improvement of the Ilagan-Divilacan road not only to spur local development but also to even the development of the entire province.
NEWS
RDC 2 sets to endorse road for the
DOT-DPWH Infra Convergence Proj
Santiago City – The Regional Development Council (RDC 2), in its regular quarterly meeting held at Charina’s Hotel in this City on March 20, 2014, came to a preliminary decision to endorse the Ilagan-Divilacan Road Rehabilitation and Improvement Project for inclusion in the Department of Tourism-Department of Public Works and Highways (DOT-DPWH) Convergence Projects for Tourism Development’s list of priority infrastructure projects for funding and implementation.
The program is a national government initiative converging the efforts and resources of the DOT and the DPWH aimed at accelerating the construction and building of infrastructures that would help realize the tourism potentials of certain areas around the country. During the meeting, members of the RDC 2 have unanimously endorsed a batch of six road projects with a total funding requirements of nearly 559 million pesos for inclusion in the convergence program.
In calling the attention of the RDC, Isabela Governor Faustino G Dy III pointed out that the Ilagan-Divilacan Road Project would certainly pass the Tourism Road Infrastructure Project Prioritization Criteria set by the DOT and the DPWH. In fact, the road proposal is one of the most technically ready considering that it has already been issued an ECC and was unanimously endorsed by the RDC as one of the region’s priority projects.
The DOT and the DPWH have committed to hasten the evaluation of the 2-billion road project so the RDC could come out with its final imprimatur.