DBP extends add’l P690-M loan to CamSur for dev’t

MANILA, Philippines - The Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has extended an additional P690-million loan to the local government of Camarines Sur to support the various development programs of the province.

Specifically, the financial assistance would be used to fund P300 million worth of infrastructure projects.

Another P200 million would also fund the construction of  a food terminal while P100 million would finance Internet-based curriculum and connectivity of public schools.

The loan would also finance various tourism development initiatives worth P50 million and for the completion of various priority projects worth P41.9 million.

DBP previously financed various infrastructure, school buildings and facilities, mini-hospital/ health centers, IT park and tourism projects of the LGU, including the world-renowned Camarines Sur Water Sports Complex and Gota Beach Resort in Caramoan Island.

The assistance to the Camarines Sur LGU earned for the DBP the Most Outstanding Local Economic Development Project award from the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific in 2011.

It also catapulted Camarines Sur into the country’s top tourist destination from 2009-2010.

In April this year, DBP also granted a P268.502-million loan to the Camarines Sur IV Electric Cooperative (Casureco IV) to partially finance its capital expenditure requirements that will lead to the improvement of the distribution system’s capacity, efficiency, reliability and safety.

The project will also address the load requirement of new customers, overloading of transformers, and dilapidated kilowatt-hour meters.

The DBP loan will also be used to provide electrification to 393 sitios and connect 16,382 households.

It will also reduce technical system losses from 14.49 percent to 12.69 percent in the first year.

Categorized as a large cooperative by the National Electrification Administration, Casureco IV’s coverage consists of nine municipalities with 258 barangays in the fourth district of Camarines Sur. It serves 41,391 household customers.