By Allen Estabillo/PNA
GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The World Bank and the Department of Agriculture has declared Sarangani province as a model site for the implementation of projects under the flagship Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP).
Sarangani Governor Steve Chiongbian Solon said Wednesday the two agencies made the declaration as they acknowledged the province’s “best practices” in the implementation of PRDP-funded road projects.
Solon said a team from the DA and World Bank visited the province for the second time last Monday to assess the status of ongoing sub-projects in the area under the PRDP’s Intensified Building Up of Infrastructure and Logistics for Development or I-BUILD component.
Led by World Bank task team leader Frauke Jungbluth, he said the group specifically inspected the PHP120-million road upgrading and concreting project in Malungon town.
Early this year, the team visited the PHP48-million Kayupo-Maligang-Sitio Malayo provincial road project in Kiamba town.
“They saw that there were no irregular transactions and no funds were wasted in the implementation of these projects,” the governor said in a statement.
In a briefer, the local government said the Malungon road project covers some 16 km. and will connect farming villages in the area and in Tupi town in South Cotabato.
The PRDP, which is funded by World Bank, provided for 90 percent of the funding requirement, or about PHP108 million, while the provincial government shouldered the remaining 10 percent, or PHP12 million, as counterpart.
The project’s initial phase is already about 22 percent complete and is targeted for completion in July next year.
It covers barangays Malandag, Datal Tampal, Atlae, Kiblat, Kibala and Alkikan, which is part of the town’s agribusiness zone.
The second phase, which will start in late 2019, will expand the road to barangays Blaan and Datal Batong in Malungon and Miasong in Tupi.
Solon added that they are closely working with the PRDP and local implementers to ensure that the project would be completed as scheduled.
