The Tawi-Tawi bridge-road project, which directly links Sanga-Sanga Island, where the airport is located, with the main Island of Tawi-Tawi province, is expected to bring about the full transformation of the local economy.
The bridge-road connection will enable local growers to transport their crops and other products more efficiently and at lower cost to Bongao municipality, the capital town of Tawi-Tawi, which is located on Sanga-Sanga Island, and is the center of commercial activity in the province.
Tawi-Tawi Gov. Sadikul Sahali said the bridge-road project will greatly improve the livelihood of farmers, particularly in the municipalities of Panglima Sugala, Sapa-Sapa and Languyan.
“Upland growers will have an easier time getting their harvests to markets,” Sahali added.
Sahali said the project is a partnership among the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the Tawi-Tawi provincial government, and United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program.
Sahali said the USAID, through the GEM Program, has helped to improve the Tawi-Tawi province’ economy through 51 barangay infrastructure projects, including the construction of 26 boat landings.
He said six larger infrastructure projects completed by GEM in Tawi-Tawi include the extension and widening of the Bongao airport runway, which enabled Airphil Express to establish a Zamboanga City-Bongao route, now plied four times weekly by a 77-seater Bombardier Q400.
The bridge-road project includes the ongoing construction by DPWH of three steel bridges (155 meters, 102 meters and 40 meters long) with connector roads, as well as a 900-meter road linking two of the bridges, on the islet of Bakhaw Dakula.
“This has been a long-time dream to have a land connection between the two largest islands,” Tawi-Tawi Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice president Nazrullah Masahud said.
An 8.4-kilometer road connecting the bridges to the Tawi-Tawi Island highway network is being upgraded by DPWH-ARMM, while the upgrading of the 9.3-kilometer road connecting the Sanga-Sanga side will be completed in July by the GEM Program, which is implemented under the oversight of the Mindanao Development Authority.
Once completed,the bridge-road project will facilitate the flow of people, goods and services throughout the province, helping to generate commercial activity and provide better access to schools and health and social services available only in Bongao.
“Transport between Bongao, the market center, and agricultural areas will be more direct and speedy,” former Tawi-Tawi Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Rolando Lim said.
(PNA)
