The Regional Project Advisory Board, Region 02 (RPAB 02) of the Philippine Rural Development Project convened on Wednesday, May 13, 2015 to evaluate the viability and completeness of two (2) l-BUILD subprojects, namely: District 3-Sta Cruz FMR in San Manuel, Isabela and the Enhanced Namabbalan Norte-Baliuag-Bical-Cabbo FMR in Cagayan.

The FMR in San Manuel amounting to P64.52 million is the third subproject submitted by the Province of Isabela while Cagayan’s FMR has been redesigned after its failure of bidding and the new total project cost increased by almost two-fold.

A special field validation visit was conducted by NPCO Deputy Project Director Arnel V. De Mesa for the Namabbalan Norte-Baliuag-Bical-Cabbo FMR last February 26, 2015. He instructed that the road width be increased to 5 meters according to the new NPCO guidelines and the three single-lane bridges be upgraded into Reinforced Concrete Deck Girder (RCDG), hence, the total Estimated Project Cost (EPC) of the said FMR increased from the original P114.7 million to P207.738 million.

After a thorough evaluation, the RPAB 02 unanimously approved the two proposed FMRs requiring an aggregate cost of P 272.26 million with a resolution endorsing them to the Project Support Office for favorable approval and endorsement to NPCO.

Regional Executive Director and concurrent RPAB 02 Chair Lucrecio R. Alviar, Jr. exhorted the officials and representatives of PPMIUs in the region to be more proactive and always conscious of the requirements of the Project as stipulated in its Operations Manual. The very stringent criteria and processes for procurement must be observed. PPMIUs must strictly conform to the specific requirements for bidding to avoid a repeat of the failure of bidding as experienced in the first subproject of Cagayan.

To provide equal opportunities for qualified local contractors, subprojects can be broken down into segments and actual bidding can be done by segments. This process can also facilitate actual project completion since simultaneous implementation by segments can be realized.

RED Alviar once again challenged the PPMIUs to be more aggressive in preparing subprojects for possible funding by PRDP. He reminded them of their respective financial targets in terms of actual project proposals as agreed during the last RPC02-PPMIUs coordination meeting held at Casa Angela. (Jaycee Capalungan, InfoACE RPCO 2)