ASIA's longest zip line? The bid of Danao town in Bohol may not be too far off. Domestic and foreign tourists enjoying the adrenaline rush of the current “sui-slide” and canyon swing – and the milder cable car ride, wall climbing, river kayaking and inner tube rafting can already look forward to the ultimate surge. Gov. Erico Aumentado and Danao Mayor Louis Thomas Gonzaga have agreed to put up counterpart funds to build a 1.5-kilometer line that would be Asia's longest. Gonzaga said his town has earmarked some P3 million, mostly from earnings of the current pants-wetting rides, for the latest apple of his eye. Aumentado readily took up his challenge – announcing during Thursday's Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) civic action in Barangay Remedios that the provincial government is ready with the initial P500,000. The P2 million balance will follow suit.

Roads, bridge

To make the Eco/Extreme Adventure Tour (EAT) Danao more accessible, the governor said the province has allocated P18 million for the asphalting of the Poblacion-Magtangtang Road that is part of the Danao-Buenavista-Lapacan (Inabanga) Road. He has also ready another P1 million to fix the Panghagban Bridge along the way. Aumentado said the adrenaline rush should come from the suicide, er, sui-slide – not from the bumps from avoiding potholes on the rough road. The interior town is also accessible through the 14-kilometer Mahayag (San Miguel) Danao Road that includes the stretch of narrow ridge likened to the back of an emaciated sow (buko-buko sa anay). The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) through its Provincial Road Management Facility (PRMF) has given a P35-million grant, with a P14-million counterpart from the provincial government, to improve this road, Work will start before the election ban. Under Commission on Elections (Comelec) guidelines, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will not be allowed to bid or release funds or award new projects 45 days before and after elections. Aumentado added that the Provincial Engineer's Office (PEO) also constructed a new road that leads to the Kalayaan Resettlement Center also in Remedios where he and Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales led groundbreaking ceremonies for rowhouses costing P6 million 15 Kauban sa Reporma (KR) or comrades in reform families and 10 Remedios residents.

Irrigation, more.

Also to start shortly is the Hibale Small Reservoir Irrigation Project (SRIP) costing P20 million with funds already inserted in the 2010 budget of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) under the Department of Agriculture. Meanwhile, Aumentado distributed P50,000 checks in financial assistance to all 17 barangays of Danao for a total of P850,000 – for their respective priority projects.