by Ericson Guiao, PSO North Luzon InfoACE

Successful subproject completion is one of the major factors to fully attain and realize the desired development objectives set by the Department of Agriculture – Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) for farmers and fishers in rural communities across the country.

Thus, to ensure success and efficiency in implementation, monitoring, reporting, and evaluation of the whole construction process by the local government units and project implementers are necessary and play a crucial role, including the management practices of the contractor on the site.

With this, the World Bank, together with the DA-PRDP technical team, inspected some ongoing infrastructure and enterprise subprojects in the North Luzon cluster from May 14-17, 2024.

The team visited the identified subprojects that have been lagging behind the set construction timeline, resulting in poor implementation or unsatisfactory physical performance or progress since the start of their construction.

Additionally, the technical field visit was held to assess the subprojects’ revised construction schedules to see if they are doable or would require enhancements, check the quality of completed work items to see their acceptability, and review if other structures would be required to address climate resiliency concerns.

This also comes as the closing of the Second Additional Financing (AF2), under which these subprojects are funded, is scheduled in December 2024, which means all AF2 subprojects must be completed before the funding closes.

These subprojects include the Establishment of Onion Cold Storage (Consolidation and Marketing) by the Nueva Segovia Consortium of Cooperatives in Caoayan, Ilocos Sur, Construction of Cabaroan-Silag-Pacang (CASIPA)  Bridge in Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur, Rehabilitation of Road Opening Cabalayangan-Sta. Monica FMR in Bauang, La Union, Improvement of Balang-Bocao FMR with vehicular bridge in Kabayan, Benguet, Improvement of Sitio-Nazareno FMR in Hermosa, Bataan, and the Construction of Fish Landing and Trading Facility in Orani, Bataan.

Engr. Raoul Azanza of the WB team led the site inspection of the I-BUILD subprojects, checking the engineering and technical aspects of the construction, while Luningning Bondoc, WB Economist, reviewed the economic, financial, and administrative side of the subprojects, especially for I-REAP.

An exit conference was held after each visit for the WB team to provide their findings and recommendations to the concerned parties, such as the Local Government Units (LGU) as the procuring entity and the contractors responsible for the subproject construction.

The team reminded them of the closing of the AF2, advising them that failure to complete the subproject entails consequences.

“If you are unable to complete the subproject by December, the LGU will be obliged to return to DA the unexpected and/or unliquidated balance of the released fund for the subproject, as also stipulated in the Implementation Management Agreement or IMA,” Bondoc said.

In the case of termination of subprojects, the LGU shall not only return the utilized grant but will also be considered ineligible for future projects under the DA-PRDP. Likewise, the company of the contractor will be blacklisted, preventing it from participating in any bidding opportunities for any projects nationwide.

Meanwhile, in her message, DPD Elma Mananes reiterated the current performance of the North Luzon cluster when it comes to subproject implementation, as it has always been a top-performing cluster.

“If any of the subprojects visited this field visit failed to comply with the findings or be physically completed accordingly before the AF2 closes, it will be the first time for the North Luzon cluster to have a bad performance in subproject implementation. And this does not only affect the cluster, it will also impact the entire PRDP, as it can result in unsatisfactory rating by the World Bank in the implementation support mission to DA-PRDP,” Mananes said.

On their part, the LGU and contractor of the respective subprojects committed to comply with the requirements of the WB to be able to complete the subprojects in due time.

Also present to assist and provide feedback during the activity were WB Task Team Leader Mio Takada and NPCO OIC National Deputy Project Director Angelita Martir. They are accompanied by component and unit staff from the NPCO, PSO, and RPCOs. ###