Entrepreneurial Farmer

CONNECTING THE HINTERLANDS

by Ambrosio R. Villorente

          Through Resolution Nos. 124 and 125, both Series of 2014, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Aklan urged the Provincial Engineer’s Office and the Department of Public Works and Highways to develop road network plans that will connect the provinces of Aklan and Antique via the boundaries of Malinao or Madalag towns. SP member Emmanuel Soviet Russia A. Dela Cruz sponsored the resolutions, according to Odon S. Bandiola, Aklan SP secretary.

          Both resolutions were passed by the provincial legislative body during its 20^th Regular Session on June 18, 2014. It revives the previous plan to connect provinces of northern Panay. The proposal is to connect Aklan via the hinterlands of Nabas, Aklan to Pandan, Antique or Buruanga, Aklan to Libertad, Antique.

          Dela Cruz said Aklan is presently crisscrossed with road networks along the coastline and a coastal road network from Kalibo to Ibajay is already on-going to boost further the tourism industry of the province of Aklan.

          “There is a felt need for the inland communities of Aklan sharing common borders to get connected with one another with roads wherever possible to promote and achieve closer contact and improve the social, cultural, agricultural and industrial advancement of the inhabitants of the mountainside communities,” said SP member Dela Cruz.  

          “The construction of connecting roads facing the heartland of the inland communities will open up vast areas of virgin lands of the public domain suitable for cultivation and habitation, discover hidden places of scenic beauty and sights of wonder preserved in their pristine state and further bring about the utilization and development of watersheds for irrigation and potable water supply purposes,” Dela Cruz added.

          In the decade of the seventies and eighties, there was a plan to connect Aklan and Antique via the boundary of Malinao, Aklan and Sebasti, Antique, almost simultaneous when the Gibon, Nabas to Caticlan, Malay road was penetrated and now fully paved.

          At the southern portion, road construction had been started to connect Aklan and Capiz via the towns of Altavas and Jamindan. There was likewise a plan to connect Aklan and Iloilo via the planned Libacao-Lambunao, Iloilo road. /MP