TACLOBAN CITY- At least 188 major projects have been listed by the Regional Development Council (RDC) as priority for monitoring this year in Eastern Visayas, citing its importance to the attainment of regional development goals and targets.
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Regional Director Bonifacio Uy, chair of the RDC’s Regional Project Monitoring Committee (RPMC), said there are only 188 projects picked by the body for monitoring given the “limited technical and logistical resources.”
“We prioritize programs and projects to be monitored by RPMC based on the reports submitted by the implementing agencies,” Uy said.
These projects include post-“Yolanda” reconstruction activities; resettlement sites in Tacloban City, Eastern Samar, Leyte, and Biliran; livelihood projects; irrigations; social infrastructure; agriculture and fishery; road and bridges; roads leading to tourism destinations; roads in conflict-stricken areas; seaports; and airports.
Uy said the project monitoring initiative by RDC members both from government and private sector will help ensure timely implementation of programs and projects critical to the attainment of goals in the 2017-2022 Regional Development Plan.
The official said programs and projects with substantial negative slippage and problems in implementation have been the priority for field monitoring and problem solving sessions.
RDC Co-Chair Roy Bernard Fiel urged RPMC to link the NEDA Region 8 monitoring system with similar existing tools of implementing government agencies.
“Our proposal was to create a technical working group to study the possibility of harmonizing all monitoring systems of all agencies,” Fiel said in a separate interview.
The RPMC is RDC’s project monitoring arm responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of priority programs and projects implemented in the region, particularly those that are encountering implementation bottlenecks and projects that are worthy for replication.
The body forwards monitoring reports and recommendations generated during the problem-solving sessions to the council for information and appropriate action.
(SARWELL Q. MENIANO/PNA)
