USAID Provides a Vital Road Link in North Cotabato

 

 

 

 

Thanks to a partnership between the American people and the provincial government of North Cotabato, thousands of residents now have easier, safer, and faster access to markets to support their families’ livelihood and ability to reach health care, education, and government centers.

 

For the 46,000 residents of the municipality of Carmen in the conflict-affected province of North Cotabato, the 35-kilometer Carmen-Pagalungan-Aleosan Provincial Road is a vital link to vast and rich agricultural lands and to two national highways that allow residents to transport goods to nearby markets. 

 

However, one 7.2-kilometer section -- the Kibayao-Kilangan Road -- had deteriorated severely, becoming impassable during the rainy season and deeply rutted during drier periods, making the transport of goods and passengers both difficult and expensive. 

 

The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) program, funded construction on the Kibayao-Kilangan Road to upgrade it to a two-lane, all-weather, graveled road with new drainage structures.  Pictured above are the before and after photos of the Kibayao-Kilangan Road.

 

 

Since its completion, cargo and passenger transportation costs have fallen and farmers have begun to cultivate more crops in the surrounding agricultural lands.  The American-Filipino partnership is successfully helping thousands of families in their quest for development and prosperity.

 

 

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