Malacañang Welcomes World Bank’s New Financial Package

(PNA) — Malacañang welcomed on Sunday the World Bank’s announcement that it will extend a P22.4- billion financial package intended for rural infrastructure development and assistance for Filipino fishermen and farmers.

“Ikinagagalak natin ang pagpapahayag ng World Bank hinggil sa US 508-million dollar o 22.4 bilyong pisong loan at financial package para sa Pilipinas,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a press briefing over radio station dzRB Radyo ng Bayan.

This financial package, called the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) to be implemented by the Department of Agriculture, will benefit more or less two million farmers and fishermen.

Under the PRDP, more than 70 percent of the fund will go to infrastructure projects that include farm-to-market roads, bridges, trucks, communal irrigation, potable water systems, post-harvest facilities, production facilities, fish landings, fish sanctuaries, storage facilities, trading posts, greenhouses, solar driers, and slope stabilization works.

Among the benefits of the financial grant is increasing the level of the annual household incomes (real household income) of farmers and fishermen by no less than five percent.

Also included in the financial package is a P7-million grant aimed at strengthening the conservation efforts of marine-protected areas of Tayabas, Quezon; Green Island in Palawan; Ticao Pass between Sorsogon and Masbate; Guimaras; Danajon Bank in Bohol; and Guiuan, Eastern Samar. (PNA) SCS/PND/RSM