Barat Bridge. Contributed photo
PANTABANGAN, Nueva Ecija – The P32-million bridge constructed for an stepped up watershed rehabilitation effort in this town and Carranglan is now accessible to commuters, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources reported.
DENR regional executive director Paquito Moreno, Jr. said the 80-meter long Barat reinforced concrete bridge built by his agency in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency opened recently is “essential for the rehabilitation of the 44,000-hectare Pantabangan-Carranglan Watershed (PCW).”
Situated across the Barat River in Sitio Kanlungan, Carranglan, the bridge was funded by JICA as an agroforestry support facility the 10-year Forest Land Management Project (FLMP) in PCW, Moreno said.
According to the DENR, the bridge will also benefit about 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 long bridge in Sitio Pamalayan, Barangay Conversion, Pantabangan and the 55-meter long Calaocan hanging bridge in Barangay Burgos, Carranglan, said the DENR.
Launched in 2012, FLMP has already rehabilitated more than 14,000 hectares of denuded forestlands in the PCW through collaborative and comprehensive community-based forest management strategies.
