24 new infra projects under way
COTABATO CITY — A total of 24 new infrastructure projects, costing about P173 million, are now being secured and monitored by stakeholders in different barangays to boost the investment potential of the province.
Among these are the construction of anti-flood concrete box culverts, overflow river bridges, concreting of farm-to-market roads, two-storey multi-purpose buildings and barangay halls in remote areas in the 17 towns in Cotabato, a component province of Region 12.
Some of the projects shall benefit residents of the 63 Bangsamoro barangays in different towns in Cotabato, where there are members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front now thriving peacefully as farmers, earning extra income from fishing in the vast Liguasan Delta.
Bankrolled partly by the Economic Development Fund and the 2024 Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund of the office of Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño Mendoza, these projects are meant to boost progress in areas where former rebels have returned to the fold of law.
Last year, up to 298 members of the Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters surrendered in batches.
Recently, the Bangsamoro transportation and communications ministry and the national government’s Office for Transportation Security (OTS) have ironed out system policies and programs for modernizint the Cotabato Airport located in Datu Odin Sinsuat in Maguindanao del Norte.
“Improving this airport is essential to the Mindanao peace process and to the economic growth of Cotabato City and the nearby municipalities in the second district of Lanao del Sur, in Maguindanao del Norte and in Maguindanao del Sur,” said OTS Director IV Rodelio B. Jocson. — John Felix M. Unson