World Bank rates progress on rural projects ‘satisfactory’

THE WORLD BANK said it views progress to be “satisfactory” on the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) rural infrastructure projects that it funded.

In its Implementation Status & Results Report dated July 17, the World Bank said that the progress of the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) “continues to be rated satisfactory.”

“An assessment of project impacts records increases in real household income, increase in value of marketed output, reduction in input and output hauling costs, increases in farmed area, increase in production volume, reduction in travel time from farm to market, increase in traffic density, and increase in school attendance,” the bank said.

“In addition, broader outcomes are being realized via the country-wide institutionalization and acceptance of the PCIP ( Provincial Commodity Investment Plan) as a technically based planning platform for convergence between programs of the DA, LGUs ( local government units), and other national government agencies,” it added.

The PRDP, which began in 2014, provides funding and technical support for building provincial roads, bridges, communal irrigation

systems, potable water supply, solar dryers, greenhouses, and composting facilities.

The World Bank rated the project’s overall risk as “substantial.”

According to the report, results of the bank’s household survey for the project’s beneficiaries show a 15.20% increase in their annual household income in June, compared with December 2014, a slight improvement from the 15.16% increase recorded in December 2017.

This marks about half of the 30% increase targeted by May 2021.

The bank also reported that the income of beneficiaries involved in enterprise development grew 27% over the same period, little changed from the end of 2017, but approaching the 30% target.

Roads completed totaled 269 kilometers as of June, about 11.7% of the 2,300 kilometer targeted for May 2021.

Some 50%, or $ 249.54 million of the $ 501.25 million loan has been disbursed, while $3.54 million of the $7 million worth of trust funds have been spent.

In January, the World Bank opened an additional $170 million worth of funding for the project, but is has yet to be tapped. —