TACLOBAN CITY – Construction of seven farm-to-market-roads (FMR) projects worth P615.36 million under the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) are now ongoing, the regional office of the Department of Agriculture (DA) reported on Tuesday(Sept.12).
The infrastructure component of the World Bank-funded PRDP aims to help in transporting farm products to commercial center, hence, raising the income of families in farming communities, said Jenny Lyn Almeria, DA-PRDP regional deputy project coordinator.
These projects are P50.32 million rehabilitation of Bantayan-Malobago Pagsang-an FMR in San Roque, Northern Samar; P77.6 million concreting of Cogon-Mabini FMR in Basey, Samar; P20.26 million improvement Dau-Eduardo FMR in Sta. Rita, Samar; and the P24.93 million concreting of Camanhagay-Poblacion 1 FMR in San Sebastian, Samar.
In Southern Leyte, these projects are the rehabilitation of P30.39 Suba Kanangkaan-San Vicente-San Juan FMR in Sogod town; P182.7 million improvement of Mahayahay-Manalog FMR in Saint Bernard; and P229.1 million upgrading of San Roque-Bahay FMR in Liloan.
“There are also 15 other pipelined projects still waiting for approval with a total budget requirement of P10.6 billion,” Almeria said.
The PRDP is a six-year project of the Department of Agriculture which covers nationwide. This aims to modernize and improve sectors of resilient fisheries and agriculture.
The project is a partnership among World Bank, national government, and local government units.
The PRDP is a six-year rural development project worth P27.5 billion to be funded through World Bank loan worth P20.56 billion, and P7 billion in counterpart funds from the national government and local government units. The project has started in 2014. (PATRICIA SALVO/PNA)