The IBUILD portfolio of the Philippine Rural Development Project Mindanao cluster now has a total of 238 subprojects (SP’s) worth P16.75 billion from the original loan and additional financing from the World Bank.

Out of the 238 SP’s, 193 have already been approved 23% of which come from Region 11, amounting to PhP2.7 billion, 21% from Region 9, 20% from Region 10, 15% and 16 % from Regions 12 and 13 respectively, and 5% coming from BARMM.

The construction of farm-to-market roads (FMR’s), bridges, irrigation systems, potable water supplies, and other infrastructure projects are part of the support to the champion commodities identified in the Provincial Commodity Investment Plans (PCIP) such as rubber, banana, coconut, cacao, cassava, abaca, coffee, seaweeds, mango, and rice.

Irene Suana, barangay captain of Diculum, Baliguian Zamboanga del Norte, shared how their mode of transportation became efficient and convenient.

“Before the PRDP Project, our means of transportation was through pump boat and would take us 3 hours from Diculom to Labaso, but through the rehabilitation and concreting of our roads, we can travel faster now,” said Suana.

The farm roads did not only benefit the agricultural sector but has also brought about other emerging benefits such as improving the economic activities of the community as well as the lives of residents here.

“The construction of this concreted road brought a lot of changes to our lives. Our pupils’ and students’ parents could now easily fetch them from school. There is also an increase in the attendance of the students even during the rainy season,” said Bobby Delalamon, barangay captain of Punong Grande, Banga, South Cotabato.

On its fifth year implementation, PRDP now has a total of 102 completed subprojects amounting to PhP3.49 billion. This consists of 81 FMR subprojects, 2 FMR with bridges, 1 CIS, 6 PWS and 11 Other Infrastructure. In terms of cost, completed subprojects are now at 44% of the total I-BUILD portfolio. The completed subprojects serve around 102,833 households or close to 463,000 individual beneficiaries. Half of the total beneficiaries are women.

56% or 57 subprojects are now under “on-going” stage. 31% or 31 out of 57 on-going subprojects amounting to PhP2.47 billion are already nearing completion stage.

As of this reporting period, only six (6) subprojects remain at the procurement stage amounting to PhP34 million. These consist of 5 Potable Water Supply subprojects and 1 Warehouse with Solar Dryer & Fermentary facility. (Joy M. Montecalvo)