Town potable water system ok’d for World Bank funding

CEBU, Philippines- The Regional Project Advisory Board (RPAB)-7 has approved the P68-million Integrated Potable Water Supply Project in Alegria, Cebu for funding under the Philippine Rural Development Project  of the Department of Agriculture and World Bank.

This is the first potable water project being proposed in Central Visayas that will be funded by World Bank through the PRDP, according to a report from RPAB-7.

Alegria Mayor Verna Magallon, who presented the overview of the project to the members of the RPAB-7 during a meeting in Cebu City recently, said the project would promote health and sanitation and reduce poverty and hunger.

 It will also provide livelihood opportunities and generate income for the Alegrianons, she added.

The project would serve at least 3,000 households in the barangays of Compostela, Guadalupe, Legaspi, Madridejos, Montpeller, Poblacion, Santa Filomena, and Valencia.

Magallon noted the importance of the project considering that the town has recorded typhoid fever cases due to pipeline leakage. The water system in the eight barangays was also found positive of e-coli bacteria.

“The integration of all water systems in the eight barangays will help solve the problem on unsafe drinking water,” she said.

Tony Del Socorro, one of the members of the RPAB representing the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), asked the Provincial Project Monitoring and Implementing Unit (PPMIU) of Cebu Province to look into the sustainability plan of the project.

She believed that the problems on water sanitation and management and the living conditions of the people would be addressed by the project.

The subproject would then be endorsed to the Project Support Office-Visayas Cluster and to the National Project Coordination Office (NPCO) for review and approval, before the release of the No Object Letter 1 (NOL1).

The NOL1 signals the local government unit to proceed with the publication of the invitation to bid.

PRDP is a six-year national agri-fishery development project of the DA and is funded by World Bank, the funding institution.

In July this year, RPAB-7 also approved the P65 million farm-to market subproject in Daanbantayan town, northern Cebu. (FREEMAN)