DITSAAN-RAMAIN, Lanao del Sur, Philippines – Majority of residents in this booming agricultural town stand to have a better access soon to potable water following the approval of the construction of a Level 2 water system in the village of Upper Pugaan.

The P5.6-million water system project is being funded by the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Social Fund Project (ASFP) through a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The contractor, ASAP Construction and General Trading, is given five months to set up a piped water system with a communal water point in Upper Pugaan based on the contract it signed with the ASFP management early this week in Cotabato City.

According to the project brief released by the ASFP, villagers here do not usually get drinking water from dependable sources laced with risks of contamination by water-borne diseases.

Engineer Nasser Sinarimbo, ASFP project manager, said they hope to help improve the health and sanitation of the people in the area with the introduction of the project.

He said the water system will also be big enough to serve other areas in the municipality aside from Upper Pugaan.

Beneficiaries will no longer have a hard time fetching potable water, Sinarimbo said.

“Water is life and ASFP is happy to bring life to this part of Ditsaan-Ramain,” he said.

In another development, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) is expected to improve the provincial roads of Lanao del Norte through its Provincial Road Management Facility (PRMF) program by allocating a P40-million grant starting 2012 until 2014.

Under this road development program, the AusAID, along with the provincial government of Lanao del Norte, will jointly identify the priority roads for repair within three-year partnership.

Since last month, officials and technical working groups of the AusAID and the provincial government of Lanao del Norte started their joint inspection of targeted areas, and also started drafting a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) set to be signed by both parties before the end of this month.

Initially, included in the priority road projects proposed by the provincial local government unit (LGU) for immediate rehabilitation on the first year of the project is the Kapatagan-Sapad Road.

Officials of the AusAID and provincial government of Lanao del Norte recently conducted a PRMF meeting in the capital town of Tubod.

“Our mission is to help people overcome poverty,” said AusAID Counselor Andrew Egan.

Australian aid program supports the anti-poverty measures of the Philippine government especially those focusing on increasing the level of government expenditures on social services and infrastructure, supporting improvements to national level budgeting and public financial management, and improving public sector management of road infrastructure at the provincial level.

The support of the Australian government was very much welcomed by the officials of this fast-rising province of Lanao del Norte in Northern Mindanao.

“The assistance from AusAID will further spur economic growth in the countryside,” said Lanao del Norte Governor Mohamad Khalid Q. Dimaporo. (With a report from Mike U. Crismundo)