ROAD TO PROGRESS. This farm-to-market road in Banaue, Ifugao is among the projects under the Philippine Rural Development Projects completed in 2022. PRDP is funded through a loan from the World Bank, which also requires a counterpart fund from the national and local governments. (PNA photo courtesy of DA-PRDP)
BAGUIO CITY – At least PHP1.2 billion worth of infrastructure projects have been constructed in Kalinga province, boosting the movement of people and commodities.
The projects were funded by a loan from the World Bank’s (WB) multi-component Philippine Rural Development Projects (PRDP), which has a counterpart fund from the national government, through the Department of Agriculture (DA), and the local or provincial governments.
“The last approved project for a farm-to-market road (FMR) in (the municipality of) Pinukpuk is (worth) PHP325 million. We still have forthcoming (FMR project), which is (worth) PHP206 million for (the municipality of) Pasil,” Kalinga Governor James Edduba told the Philippine News Agency in a phone interview Monday.
Except for the last two, Kalinga has received six I-Build projects from 2014 to 2023.
“All the PRDP projects are in support of the province’s commodities like banana, coffee, heirloom rice, and others,” the governor said.
Under PRDP, DA aims to establish a modern, value chain-oriented, and climate-resilient agriculture and fisheries sector.
It has four components – the local and national level planning or I-PLAN, the Infrastructure Development or I-BUILD, the Enterprise Development or I-REAP and the Project Support or I-SUPPORT.
Record shows that 108 subprojects, with a total fund of PHP3.217 billion, were approved for the provinces in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
Kalinga received more than a billion worth of projects under the I-BUILD, I-REAP and I-SUPPORT components.
“Ang laki ng benepisyo ng road projects na natanggap namin in terms of presyo ng transport ng products, sa livelihood going to work ng mga tao, at sa cost ng logistics ng mga nagtatanim. (We have greatly benefited from the road projects in terms of cost of transporting the products, the transportation expenses of the people, and logistics cost among farmers,” Edduba said.
“Even during emergencies, people do not become the ambulance because vehicles can now pass and people in the community do not have to carry on their shoulders the traditional carrier for patients to be brought to the hospitals),” he noted.
The governor said the dynamic partnership of their Legislative and Executive branches played important roles in securing the projects by ensuring the availability of counterpart funds needed before a project proposal will be approved.
He said personnel assigned to do feasibility studies as well as those who ensured the proper implementation of the projects contributed to the success of the projects. (PNA)
The Philippine News Agency is a web-based newswire service of the Philippine government under the supervision of the News and Information Bureau (NIB) of the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).