Cabarroguis, Quirino – Delegates from the World Bank conducted their semestral visit to selected subprojects of the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP), with North Luzon hosting the first leg on November 21-24, 2017.

Aiming to roll out a more efficient project implementation across all offices, the review mission team met not only with the regional and cluster offices in the cluster but also with the Provincial Project Management Implementing Unit (PPMIU) of Quirino, headed by Governor Junie Cua.

“We are here to determine if there is something we should change, something we could do better, and also to look at the scope of our results and impacts,” said World Bank Task Team Leader Frauke Jungbluth during the plenary session.

On field

Two subprojects in Quirino were visited and underwent technical review by the mission team.

Headed by the World Bank Rural Infrastructure Engineer Raoul Azanza, the I-BUILD component visited the 11.8-kilometer NRJ-Palacian-Ramos Farm to Market Road in Aglipay. Amounting to P134.8 million, the FMR is now substantially completed, serving 983 households and 4,263 residents.

Technical comments were discussed by the group upon inspecting the road stretch, such as observations and recommendations on the Joint Inspectorate Team (JIT) punchlist, and items such as sub-base course aggregate, Portland Cement Concrete Pavement (PCCP), Reinforced Concrete Pipe Culvert (RCPC) and Stone Masonry.

For the I-REAP component, the team headed to a P5.3 million coffee enterprise subproject in Maddela, managed by the Cofcaville Banana Farmers Producers Coop (CoBaFPCo).

Luningning Bondoc, World Bank Economist commended the I-REAP team for their over-all efforts with the project implementation.

“I am delighted to see a big improvement with your team, considering how complicated things got last implementation support mission,” said Bondoc.

Platform for change

Gov. Cua, who has been actively engaged with the Project since its nationwide roll-out, expressed his gratitude and appreciation to the implementation process of PRDP and how it widely promotes innovation.

“For decades, it is only through this project that we are feeling the seriousness of the government in supporting agriculture,” said Cua.

He described PRDP as the “most-welcomed development” for provinces like Quirino that are currently struggling for inclusive growth.

“The scheme promotes innovation and creativity,” he added. ### (Kayla Arceo, PSO InfoACE Unit)