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Monday, August 21, 2006
Erection of cold storage along Halsema pushed
TO PRESERVE the quality of vegetables coming from the northern part of Benguet and its nearby provinces, a stationary cold storage facility would be put up along Halsema Highway.
This was one of the priority plans of the Provincial Government that was bared during the first North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle (NLAQ) meet in Dagupan, Pangasinan.
The meeting, presided over by Presidential Management Staff (PMS) Chief Arthur Yap, was attended by governors and mayors from various municipalities and provinces of Northern Luzon.
La Trinidad Mayor Nestor Fongwan said the establishment of a cold storage facility along Halsema Highway is one of the infrastructure projects that would be funded by the administration pursuant to the planned creation of "mega regions" of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as per her State of the Nation Address (Sona) last month.
Fongwan said the establishment of a stationary cold storage along the highway would help minimize the losses incurred by farmers, especially during the rainy months when landslides commonly take place along the highway.
The province also raised the need to improve the Benguet Cold Chain project in Wangal, La Trinidad after farmers there already agreed to supply a multinational company with vegetables coming from the province.
Additional farm-to-market roads and the completion of road linkages within the region would also be one of the projects waiting to be implemented.
Quoting Yap, Fongwan said the release of the money for the implementation of the infrastructure projects would start next week.
While other sectors are questioning where funds would come from to implement the plan laid-out by Arroyo, Fongwan believed there is available budget to finance identified projects.
"We were told that funds to implement these projects would come from the improved collection of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and from the efficient implementation of the expanded value-added tax (e-VAT)," he said.
The mayor was with Benguet Governor Borromeo Melchor during the NLAQ meeting. (JC)
(August 21, 2006 issue)
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