The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board, chaired by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., has approved the Mindanao Transport Connectivity Improvement Project (MTCIP) of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). The MTCIP is part of the master plan to enhance Mindanao’s highway network, improve the transport of agricultural goods from remote areas, preserve road quality, and reduce maintenance costs. To be funded by the World Bank, the project will have at least five components before its completion in 2030. It will also interconnect Northern Mindanao, Davao and Soccsksargen regions.
The proposed MTCIP will improve the Main Corridor, connecting key areas across Mindanao, including six cities and thirteen municipalities in eight provinces: Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, Davao del Norte, Cotabato, Sarangani, and South Cotabato. These regions fall under the jurisdiction of Northern Mindanao (Region X), Davao Region (Region XI), and Sarangani (Region XII).
Starting from Cagayan de Oro in the north and ending in General Santos City in the south, the Main Corridor passes through various municipalities and cities, including Manolo Fortich, Sumilao, Impasug-ong, Malaybalay City, Valencia City, Maramag, Quezon, and Kitaotao in Bukidnon. It then moves through Arakan in North Cotabato before entering Davao City, and continues through Sta. Cruz, Digos City, Hagonoy, Padada, Sulop, and Malalag in Davao del Sur, finally reaching Malungon and General Santos City in South Cotabato Province.
Additionally, the three Link Roads branch off from the Main Corridor, located in the northern, central, and southern regions. Link Road 1 is entirely within Impasug-ong, Bukidnon in Region X. Link Road 2 starts at Panabo City, Davao del Norte, and extends into Davao City in Region XI and terminates at the intersection with the MC of Bantol Road. Link Road 3 in the south connects Malungon, Sarangani of Region XII to Sta. Maria, Davao Occidental of Region XI.
The entire MTCIP route, including the Main Corridor and three Link Roads, passes through a total of 186 barangays as seen in Figure 1 The Main Corridor is accessible to private and passenger cars, motorcycle, tricycle, buses, goods utility vehicles, agricultural and construction vehicles, and specialized vehicles like rigid trucks and truck trailer. The Link Roads is accessed mainly via passenger cars, motorcycle, tricycle, jeepneys, agricultural vehicles, rigid and trailer trucks, and goods utility vehicle.
Shown below is the map of the MTCIP.
Here is the Project Detail from World Bank website.
Project Components
Component 1: Improvements of selected local roads (“Link Roads”) (Total: $138 million; of which IBRD loan $82 million, GOP $57 million).
This component will support upgrade (e.g., road widening and paving) of three local roads with a total length of 130 km to national road standards with climate resilience and road safety measures, connecting to the main corridor and thereby improving all-season road access for remote communities and farmers. The roads were jointly selected by DPWH, Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) and Local Government Units (LGUs) based on multiple criteria: poverty index, proximity to agricultural productions points and markets, and service facilities, e.g., schools, health facilities and government facilities. This component will also finance the detailed engineering design and construction supervision consultant services of the civil works. The government counterpart will be responsible for land acquisition and resettlement. All local roads upgraded under MTCIP will be converted to national roads and DPWH will be responsible for operation and maintenance.
Component 2: Capacity, climate resilience and road safety enhancement of the CDO-Davao-GenSan Corridor (“Main Corridor”) (Total: $368 million; of which IBRD loan $274 million, GOP $94 million).
The Main Corridor has a total length of 428.2 km with four parts: the Sayre Highway, the Bukidnon-Davao, the Digos-Makar and the Davao-Cotabato Rd (Davao City-Jct Digos Sect). The project scope includes rehabilitation of selected (124 km) road sections categorized as ‘bad or poor’ according to DPWH’s Road and Bridges Asset Inventory Application, which will include repair of damaged sections, upgrading to uniform cross section of carriageway, climate resilience and road safety enhancements. Following the improvement works, a new Road Asset Management (Asset Preservation and Preventive Maintenance) regime will be introduced for the whole stretch of the Main Corridor, such as Output & Performance-Based Road Contract (OPRC) to ensure a year-round satisfactory level of service.
Component 3: Capacity building and Institutional Development (Total: $18 million; of which IBRD loan $14 million, GOP $4 million).
The implementation of post-Mandanas ruling will provide LGUs with more resources for infrastructure development and maintenance. Given the weak capacity of LGUs in terms of transport network planning and asset management, this component will support capacity enhancement of DPWH and select LGUs. Specific activities under this component will include: (a) set up transport asset management systems in selected LGUs building on what has been achieved under the World Bank-funded Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) initiatives under its provincial roads program, and through cross-learning between LGUs and relevant government agencies, (b) study on institutional strengthening initiatives to enhance coordination and planning arrangements between DPWH and LGUs to improve transport connectivity, (c) implementation of the recommended actions by the on-going WB Technical Assistance (TA) to mainstream climate resilience in road asset management process of DPWH, which will include Mapping/digitalization of primary, secondary and tertiary road network in Regions X, XI and XII (d) training key stakeholders on the OPRC concept including on their respective role in the enforcement or supervision of the contract, (e) training local communities including female residents of road maintenance practice, and (f) technical, prefeasibility or feasibility studies (to be identified) for priority interventions to improve local road connectivity and access to major ports in Cagayan de Oro, Davao, and General Santos, and options of involving private sectors in ports improvement.
Component 4: Project Management (Total: $47 million; of which IBRD loan $36 million, GOP $10 million).
DPWH will be leading the project implementation. This component will support DPWH’s Unified Project Management Office (UPMO)- Road Management Cluster- II (RMCII), the Project Implementing Unit (PIU) in project implementation. It will finance trainings and technical advisors on key project implementation issues including OPRC contract design and management, road safety interventions, climate resilience improvement. The Detailed Engineering Design Consultants for project roads will be financed, and in addition, the component will provide support to the PIU for WB technical, fiduciary and safeguards compliance through Technical Support Consultants and Specialists, Road User Satisfaction Survey Consultants, Road Safety Audit Consultants, Results Monitoring Consultants and External Monitoring Agent (EMA); other operational support including office equipment, vehicles to facilitate the PIU to manage project implementation will be included.
Component 5: Contingent Emergency Response Component (CERC) to support post-disaster recovery. (Total: $0).
The CERC is designed to mitigate situations of urgent need or capacity constraints and allows for the rapid reallocation of funding in the event of a natural disaster or crisis that has caused, or is likely to imminently cause, a major adverse economic and/or social impact. A CERC Annex in the Project Operations Manual (POM) will consider risks from climate change mitigation and adaptation to demonstrate alignment.
Land Use along the Buffer Zone of MTCIP in Cagayan de Oro
The land use that is predominant in the Main Corridor section falling within the jurisdiction of Cagayan de Oro City is urban, which accounts for 39.3 has. of the total 50.52 has. of RROW within the city. The other land use is agricultural, comprising the remaining 11.2 has.
Land Use along the Buffer Zone of MTCIP in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon
In Manolo Fortich, the total RROW area is 115.185 hectares within the 40-meter RROW. The most prevalent land use has already been allocated for road use at 82.3 ha, followed by commercial land use at 9.66 ha. Production forests within this municipality that fall within the Main Corridor RROW are 4.06 ha, with residential zones accounting for 1.73 has.
Land Use along the Buffer Zone of MTCIP in Sumilao, Bukidnon
In Sumilao, the total RROW area is about 42.13 ha, which is subdivided into infrastructural roads at 21.54 has. and parks and recreation at 7.37 has. The residential land use classification only covers 6.06 has. of the total RROW area of the MTCIP in this municipality.
Land Use along the Buffer Zone of MTCIP in Malaybalay City
In Malaybalay City, the total RROW is 139.63 ha. The largest is utilized for roads at 130.54 has., followed by commercial uses, which cover 5.65 has.
Land Use along the Buffer Zone of MTCIP in Valencia City
In the City of Valencia, the whole RROW area, with a total of 57.55 has, is already allocated for roads as its land use classification. No other classification falls within the 40-meter RROW zone.
Land Use along the Buffer Zone of MTCIP in Maramag, Bukidnon
In the Municipality of Maramag, the MTCIP RROW, with a total area of 102.12 has, falls within 7 land use classifications. The majority is within Infrastructure/Utilities, Transportation, and Services (58.65 ha), followed by Settlement Area (24.77 ha), Agricultural Production (14.02 ha), Agricultural Protection (1.94 ha), Forest Production (1.45 ha), and Easement and Tourism with 0.589 and 0.681, respectively.
with maps and texts from Mindanao Transport Connectivity Improvement Project Environment and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), Version 2.3 | May 24, 2024 by Galerio Environmental Consultancy Inc. (GECI)
