Rizal 2nd District Rep. Fidel Nograles on Thursday, September 30, cited the potential of a soon-to-be constructed inter-provincial road connecting Rizal and Bulacan in playing a key role in both provinces’ post-pandemic recovery.
“We are literally paving the way to recovery with the construction of the Rizal-Bulacan Inter-Provincial Road,” Nograles said in a statement.
The groundbreaking ceremonies for the 10.37-kilometer road, which will traverse Brgy. Macabud in Rodriguez (Montalban) town to the boundary of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, was held on Wednesday, September 29.
An initial P100 million has been released this year for the road’s construction.
According to Nograles the inter-provincial road would facilitate easier access and greater mobility of goods and people, leading to an uptick in economic activity.
“Malaki ang maaaring maiambag ng bagong daan na ito para mapabilis ang daloy ng kalakal at produktong agrikultural dahil hindi na kailangang humarap sa gridlock ng Metro Manila (These new road will contribute greatly to speed up the flow of goods and agricultural products because they won't have to go through the gridlock in Metro Manila),” Nograles said.
The new road would also open up opportunities for direct trade between Rizal and Bulacan, and even to regions further north like the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
The Rizal-Bulacan Inter-Provincial Road is seen to cut travel time from Montalban to Baguio City from four hours down to two hours.
The Harvard-trained lawyer also said that the new road would be crucial in providing the people with better access to social services.
“Kung maganda ang kalsada, madaling makakapasok sa paaralan, hindi pahirapan ang pagpunta sa health center, hindi na kailangan magbayad ng malaki para maigalaw ng mga maliliit na magsasaka at mangingisda ang mga produkto nila (If our roads are good we can easily go to our schools, we won't have a hard time going to a health center and we won't need to pay so much to move the products of our farmers and fisherfolks),” Nograles said.
Businesses would also be enticed to set up shop along the areas where the road would be built, he added.
Nograles vowed to closely monitor the construction to ensure that it would serve its purpose as soon as possible. (Melvin Sarangay)