The Department of Agriculture Cordillera Administrative Region (DA CAR) currently has eight subproject proposals in the pipeline for evaluation and approval to be funded under the Intensified Building Up of Infrastructure and Logistics for Development (IBUILD) Component of the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP).

Dr. Danilo P. Daguio, Deputy Project Director of Department of Agriculture-Regional Project Coordination Office (RPCO)-CAR announced that these subprojects are all improvements of existing farm-to-market roads with an aggregate estimated amount of P821,768,211.73.

For Mountain Province, the subproject dubbed as Improvement of Besao-Nacawang and Tadian-Mabalite Farm-to-Market Road (FMR), a 20.71-kilometer road with an estimate project cost of P190 million recently concluded the initial bidding process on June 1, 2015 in Bontoc Mountain Province.

The 4.577-kilometer Improvement of Banata-Sumey-ang-Cuba-Sadsadan FMR, and the 3.198 kilometer Improvement of Poblacion-Bantay FMR, both from Mountain Province await the issuance of No Objection Letters (NOL1) to proceed with the procurement of goods.

Meanwhile, Kalinga Province recently acquired the approval of the Regional Project Advisory Board- CAR on June 2, 2015 for its two pilot subproject proposals entitled Improvement of Banneng-Gombowoy FMR estimated at P118.9 million and the Improvement of Bulanao-Amlao FMR estimated at P157.6 million. These subprojects are endorsed for the acquisition of NOL1 from the National Project Coordination Office (NPCO).

Benguet Province is catching up with three of the eight subproject proposals.  These proposals are the 23.107 kilometer Jose Mencio-Pasdong FMR with Vehicular Bridge estimated at P249 million, the 13-kilometer Amburayan-Lubo FMR estimated at P170,000.00 and the KM 49 Batan-Penged-Baiuen-Adaoay FMR, a 17-kilometer road estimated to cost P175,000.00. These proposals are still undergoing infant stages of the PRPD process flow.

Engr. Gaston Cael, I-BUILD Component Head for RPCO CAR announced that the region has committed to allot at least 2 billion peso worth of subproject proposals under the IBUILD component for 2016 funding. “We urge the provinces to submit more infra and enterprise projects under the PRDP until December this year,” he added.

PRDP is a six-year government platform under the DA designed for an inclusive, value chain-oriented and climate-resilient agriculture and fisheries sector. The P27.5 billion project is jointly funded by the World Bank, national government and local government units, and was officially declared effective last December 2014. (Mabel Zabala, InfoACE-RPCO CAR)