ADB funds $3.6-M rehab program for metro slum areas

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to provide a $3.6-million grant for a public-private sector partnership to rehabilitate slum areas in Metro Manila. It likewise approved a technical assistance (TA) grant of $120,000 for a survey to promote a climate of investment and productivity in the country.

The $3.6-million grant comes from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR), financed by the government of Japan.

Called Strategic Private Sector Partnership for Urban Poverty Reduction Program, or STEP-UP, the $3.6-million grant has been designed to leverage corporate outreach and assistance from leading companies. It will provide grants for community infrastructure and basic services, revolving funds for housing improvements, microenterprises to promote livelihood opportunities, and a program to prevent, and prepare for fires, floods, and typhoons.

According to the ADB, some 35,000 poor people in 23 communities throughout Metro Manila will benefit.

The Manila-based financial institution will partner with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), a corporate-led non-government organization (NGO) promoting social development, and well as local government units (LGUs). PBSP’s membership comprises over 160 corporations.

The STEP-UP program not only has private sector backing but also promotes new partnerships with a wide base of stakeholders, including homeowners’ associations and NGOs.

"The business and NGO sectors are keen to improve the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility, and to provide more coordinated and strategic outreach in the fight against poverty," Matthew Westfall, ADB principal urban development specialist said in a statement. "A key aim is to increase the level and impact of corporate outreach, and to ensure sustainable long-term impacts that improve the lives of the poor in a measurable ways."

The project is the latest in a series of interrelated assistance that ADB has provided to Metro Manila to tackle the problem of slum housing, and to initiate a long-term, metrowide program of urban upgrading and slum improvement.

The ADB earlier approved two $1-million JFPR grant projects to pilot on-site urban upgrading in Payatas, Quezon City, site of a tragic garbage slide in 1999, and to assist informal settlers to lead their own relocation from a dangerous railroad right-of-way in Muntinlupa City.

These activities provide important lessons in the design of a proposed $175-million ADB loan project to promote integrated urban development and urban upgrading for Metro Manila’s urban poor.

Beneficiary communities have been identified in various cities of the metropolitan area, namely, Caloocan, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Manila, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Pasig, Quezon City, and Taguig. The project may be expanded to other cities.

Meanwhile, the ADB has approved a technical assistance (TA) grant of $120,000 for a survey to promote a climate of investment and productivity in the country.

Under the TA, a survey and analysis of businesses will be carried out to investigate constraints to private investment and productivity growth – and identify effective ways to overcome them. It will also compare the Philippines with other countries on competitiveness and productivity.

The survey is intended to help policymakers steer the Philippines towards catching up with leaders in international competitiveness, and foster private sector development that will contribute to sustained poverty reduction.