THE MAINTENANCE of a P52.2-million concrete farm-to-market road with a 45-meter concrete bridge will now be the responsibility of Barangay Mikit in Baganga town under a pioneering community-based road maintenance (CBRM) program. The road was built under the Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP), implemented by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and funded by the World Bank. Davao Oriental Governor Nelson L. Dayanghirang, at the CBRM program launch and turn-over ceremony last week, said giving the maintenance responsibility to the barangay “will ensure the sustainability of the completed project as it allows community involvement in taking care of it.” “For the first time, the responsibility of taking care of an infrastructure project is given to the beneficiaries. This will provide them an opportunity to participate in maintaining the projects given to them,” Dayanghirang said in a statement yesterday. The program is based on the inter-management agreement of the provincial government with the DA and World Bank. Engr. John Christopher Algallar of the Provincial Engineering Office said the program saves the provincial government the need to mobilize resources as “it will pay the barangay for the maintenance, which in turn enables the barangay to generate additional income.”

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