Governor Lilia G. Pineda recently led members of the Pampanga Development Plan Technical Working Group (PDP TWG) in conducting an ocular inspection of the proposed circumferential road connecting Arayat and Magalang towns which will traverse along Mount Arayat.
PDP Chair and Regional Director Remigio Mercado of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and Vice-Chair Rene Romero of Pampanga Chamber of Commerce (Pamcham) together with Second District Representative Gloria M. Arroyo, Regional Director Blesila Lantayona of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI); Gerry Balyang of the Department of Agriculture (DA); Ricardo Calderon of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and other officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Pampanga Off-Roaders Association joined the said ocular inspection.
The group patiently trekked the mountainous and rough trail road of barangay San Juan Baño in Arayat town to determine and assess the feasibility and viability of the said road network proposal.
As envisioned, the proposed circumferential road which would directly link Arayat and Magalang would greatly boost the agro-industrial tourism potentials of the province.
Joel Mapiles of the Provincial Information Office (PIO) who also joined the ocular inspection said that the area has great potentials for agriculture and tourism as it boasts of rich vegetation and is strategically located overlooking the whole province and nearby Bataan province.
“If developed, it would definitely attract tourists who would travel from Subic and Clark Economic Zones and proceed to visit Arayat National Park and then take the Pampanga river cruise which now operates along Candaba and San Luis towns,” Mapiles added.
During the inspection, the DA officials identified a suitable area for the development of upland farming. At present, there are existing papaya and mango trees in the area.
The DPWH also committed that, should the plan be assessed viable and feasible, it would provide funding assistance for the construction of a farm to market road.
Governor Pineda also assured the group that the provincial government would render whatever assistance is needed for the realization of the PDP.
The governor explained that the development plan has four economic clusters, namely: industry and tourism quadrant; Agriculture or Green Highway- Fishery Development or Marine Highway and Business and Financial Center which could be developed according to their comparative advantages through public-private sector partnerships.
She added that local chief executives in the province play an important role in the realization of the plan’s priority tasks.
The formulation of the ten-year development started when the PamCham presented to Governor Pineda the business sector’s ideas on the priority development concerns of the province. The ideas were both welcomed by the governor and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and were advocated among local chief executives and other stakeholders in the province.
Representative Arroyo then translated the framework used by PamCham into a medium term development plan that became the first draft of the present PDP.
To this, PDP TWG Chair Mercado said that the PDP is a collective effort of people from various orientations and biases and crystallized through debates and arguments that resulted to clear and popularly accepted priorities for government and private sector alike.
He said that under the PDP, the province’s physical attributes are translated into key factors that shall guide the move towards prosperity for all Kapampangans, as he added that the physical limitations and potentials of the province form the foundation of the socio-economic development priorities. (Pampanga PIO)
