A well-built Farm to Market Road (FMR) and other infrastructure open a community to better opportunities, literacy and improved agricultural productivity in a certain area.

For many years residents of different communities in the remote areas dreamt of having roads that will easily connect them to the mainland and transport their harvest to the nearest market, while others think of ways to add value to their existing products but don’t have enough idea on how to start a business .

With the help of Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) and the support of the Provincial/Municipal Local Government Units (P/MLGU), these dreams became a reality.

At present, there are nine completed I-BUILD subprojects in Bicol which are now utilized by the residents specially by the proponent groups for their daily activities and livelihood.

To know and examine the functionality and the physical status of the completed FMRs and other infrastructures, the PRDP team conducted an Operations and Maintenance Audit to six completed subprojects headed by the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit Head Maribel Bitao and the Roads and Bridges Specialist  Engineer Jokoh Anthony Olivares.

The team visited the Coco Geonet Production and Coco Peat Processing Project and Camarines Norte Pineapple Trading and Processing Project in Camarines Norte; the Rehabilitation of San Isidro to Pag-Oring Nuevo to Farm to Market Road and  the Camarines Sur Coco Sap Sugar Processing in Camarines Sur; the Rehabilitation Improvement of Pistola to Tablon Road with 3 units bridges and the Construction of 150 sq.m. Warehouse for Coco Geonets in Albay.

The team closely examined the constructed buildings and the Farm to Market Roads to provide appropriate recommendations based on the Operations and Maintenance Plan submitted by the PLGU or the proponent group.

As a vital input to social and economic services, results from the findings will be sent to the respective PLGU to make the proper actions on how to maintain the usefulness of the roads and the constructed buildings and to bring more opportunities and livelihood to the members of the community. – Michelle Angela G. Alfigura, DA-PRDP RPCO 5 InfoACE Unit

ROMAT measured the whole stretch of the Rehabilitation Improvement of Pistola to Tablon Road with 3 units bridges in Oas, Albay. The team lists and assesses the cracks and created a report based on the findings.

RPCO 5 Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Rhodelia Remot together with Roads and Bridges Specialist, Engr. Jokoh Anthony Olivares discusse the findings and recommendations of the audit team for the Camarines Sur Coco Sap Sugar Processing in Baao, Camarines Sur.