Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo yesterday pledged more road improvement projects in the outskirts barangays of Dumaguete City, as he led the inauguration of a P2.4-million concreting project in the BaBaJuBa area.

BaBaJuBa is an informal acronym of an area that extends to portions of barangays Banilad, Bagacay, Junob and Bajumpandan, all in Dumaguete.

Bagacay Brgy. Captain Vincent Perigua, members of the barangay council, Councilor Tony Remollo, and provincial engineers attended the inauguration where Fr. Primo Taoc blessed the newly cemented road.

The newly concreted road in Sitio BaBaJuBa, Barangay Bagacay spans 455 meters and was funded by the provincial government from an allocation taken from its 20 percent economic development fund.

Degamo said the road is a crucial part of the diversion access passing through the interior portions of BaBaJuBa, that many vehicles now pass to avoid traffic in the highways leading to the city.

He noted the need for similar road improvement projects, and announced that additional funding will be sourced by his administration to complete its concreting next year.

Perigua had asked that the remaining portion of the road leading inwards will also be concreted, and thanked Degamo for acting on the request for concreting it. The road was once asphalted and full of potholes, especially during the rainy season.

Other projects for implementation or programming in Bagacay, are P100,000 foot path, a P500,000 drainage canal in Purok Malangsuba, and a P500,000 river control project in Purok Santol, Degamo said.

He also said he will look for funds for the construction of a drainage system in the newly-inaugurated road.

Degamo also inaugurated the P500,000 road project in Sagbang, Valencia yesterday afternoon.

The project was undertaken by the provincial government on the request of the Sagbang barangay captain and Valencia Mayor Edgar Teves, Degamo said.*JFP