P30-M bridge project to boost reforestation efforts

THE P32-million worth Barat reinforced concrete bridge that runs across the Barat river in Sitio Kanlungan of Carranglan town in Nueva Ecija is now open.

The bridge is seen to further boost the reforestation and forest protection efforts in the 44,000-hectare Pantabangan-Caranglan Watershed (PCW) after it was inaugurated recently by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Central Luzon and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).

Paquito Moreno Jr., executive director of Department of Environment and Natural Resource in Central Luzon, said the 80-meter-long bridge was funded by Jica as an agroforestry support facility (ASF) for the 10-year Forest Land Management Project (FMP) in the PCW, which will also benefit some 1,207 households and upland farmers through better access of farm produce from agroforestry areas in the watershed.

Barat bridge is the third major agroforestry support facility funded by Jica in two years after the 60-meter bridge in Sitio Pamalayan in Conversion village in Pantabangan town and the 55-meter Calaocan hanging bridge in Burgos village in Carranglan town.

Launched in 2012, FMP has already rehabilitated more than 14,000 hectares of denuded forestlands in the PCW through collaborative and comprehensive community-based forest management strategies.