Manila, March 12 -- The Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) announced Thursday that the Regional Project Advisory Board (RPAB) has approved a PHP286.5 million project to rehabilitate and upgrade an 8.5-km. farm-to-market road (FMR) in Davao Oriental.

The road project will connect Barangay Mainit in Cateel to nearby Sitio Cabasagan in Boston, both in the province.

Funded through the PRDP Scale-Up program, the project will upgrade the existing route with durable pavement and add two 92-meter bridges to provide safer, more reliable passage for residents, farmers, and traders.

Traffic on the route is expected to increase by about 4 percent each year as accessibility improves.

In a statement, Davao Orie...