RPCO 8 RPAB marks a good the start this year after unanimously giving thumbs up to five farm-to-market roads (FMR) under the Intensified Building-Up of Infrastructure and Logistics Development (I-BUILD) Component of Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) during the first Regional Project Advisory Board (RPAB) review for 2023.

 

Dr. Jenny Lyn R. Almeria, PRDP Deputy Project Director and the presiding officer shared that the RPAB review is part of the preparation for the PRDP Scale-Up. “The need for these to be deliberated by RPAB is for these to be enrolled for prioritization of PRDP projects nationwide, as the team is now working on the scale-up which is expected for launching between June-December 2023,” she said.

 

These FMRs are set to benefit four provinces in the region. These are the Improvement/ Concreting of Brgy. Cambagguio-Brgy. San Andres Farm-to-Market Road in Villareal, Samar; Rehabilitation/Concreting of Brgy. Libas-Brgy. Kauswagan Farm-to-Market Road in Sogod, Southern Leyte; Construction/Improvement/Concreting of Brgy. Paa-Imelda Marcos-Tambis-Sta. Margarita-Marangog Farm-to-Market Road in Hilongos, Leyte; Construction/ Rehabilitation of Camparanga-Manahaw-San Ramon-Canjumadal Farm-to-Market Road in Pambujan, Northern Samar; and the Construction of Brgy. Magsaysay-Brgy. Somoroy Farm-to-Market Road in Bobon, Northern Samar.

 

“These projects were previously proposed for the Additional Financing 2, but due to unforeseen events in the processing of documentary requirements, the time period lapsed before these projects were endorsed for RPAB review” DPD Almeria shared.

 

During the review, the GIS data officer presented the geomapping of each FMR which includes the road influence area. Checklists of necessary requirements such as the Social Environmental Safeguards (SES) Compliance and I-BUILD SP Review and NOL1 requirements were respectively discussed by the SES Unit and assigned Rural Infrastructure Engineer assigned.

 

“As we want to help our farmers and our beneficiaries in the countryside, we are hoping that by conducting this RPAB review, our initial steps could turn into a big help,” DPD Almeria expressed. ###